A Helping Hand
by one-regret-103
Summary: AU Sasuke leads a double life. Instead of the cold-hearted guy he portrays himself as, he's really more kind than he wishes to be. "Nobody deserves to die alone." Eventual SasuNaruSasu.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That belongs to the amazing Masashi Kishimoto, who I am not. Research from Wikipedia, MedlinePlus, and MedicineNet.  
**

**Warnings: Swearing, boyXboy lovin's, and anything else I wish to stick in here. My story, my rules. You don't like that, click the back button.**

Prologue

"Chronic Obstructive what?"

A small boy, almost ten but much too small for his age, was looking up to a boy no older than seventeen, with wide, shinning eyes. The elder, lying weakly in the small hospital bed, looked down at his brother and smiled a small, sad smile. "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The doctors say it was mostly genetic, but Mother and Father's smoking damaged my lungs even more. But the doctors say they may have caught it soon enough that I'll be fine," Itachi explained, lying through his teeth. While it was true it was caught early, he most likely _wasn't _going to be fine. His lungs were already in bad shape, and breathing was _just so hard._

"Really?" the boy asked, not completely believing his older brother. It was something about the ward that just screamed death. All the other patients (kids really) here looked so sick, so close to death, that it hurt his tiny heart. He may only be nine, but he wasn't stupid; he knew his brother wasn't fairing very well. "'Cause you don't seem it."

And, as if to prove the younger's suspicions right, the elder let out a series of coughs, each as ineffective as the last. "Okay Sasuke," Itachi gasped after the coughs subsided, "you're right. I'm not "fine". I'm sick, and not going to get better. The damage to my lungs is permanent and there isn't anyway to fix them. But I'm not going to leave you. You need me, so I'm not about to give up without a fight. I'll hopefully live and I'll be here for you."

At these words, Sasuke launched himself into his brother's arms, and held tight, afraid of loosing his anchor. After their parents died in a car crash less than a year ago, the two had been living in their old house, Itachi taking over the role as Sasuke's parent figure. The only person to come and offer assistance was Kakashi Hatake, he best friend of their deceased godfather. But the "old pervert", so affectionately dubbed, lived over two hours away and was relatively broke. So he was only really there as moral support, when he came to visit every other weekend, which he wasn't even particularly good at either.

For the past few months though, Itachi had developed a fairly nasty cough and tired easily, which he finally got checked out. Turned out it was something very serious. Serious enough to be hospitalized for. Which left Sasuke all alone in the huge house, calling the need for someone to be there. And who better than the aforementioned Kakashi? The man took a leave of absence from his job, and said he'd watch over Sasuke as long as Itachi was in the hospital for.

Soon after, Kakashi came to pick Sasuke up, because visiting hours were long past, and Itachi was fatigued. A system started; one where Sasuke came to visit for a few hours each day. On the days that Itachi was too tired to talk, sometimes to even stay conscious, Sasuke would visit and talk with the other kids on the ward. Some as young as six, and as old as seventeen, he talked and made friend with them all.

All of the patients there, he learned, were all chronic cases, and many no longer got visitors, and some never did. But Sasuke made the effort to learn about them, make them a little less lonely.

All until that faithful day.

_Some_how, Itachi had developed pneumonia, which exacerbated his lungs to the point where he couldn't breath at all. The doctors did all they could to save the young adult, but the damage to his lungs was too extensive already.

All Sasuke could do was sit back and watch as Itachi slowly suffocated to death. He refused to leave when visiting hours ended, but the nurses didn't have the heart to make the boy leave, so it wasn't much of a problem.

And so, as Sasuke sat with his brother's now still, cold body, he found a goal. A life goal, if you will. He would continue with what he'd been doing, visiting with critical patients (children), for as long as he could, as often as he could. Because…

Nobody deserves to die alone.

* * *

**A/N: I probably shouldn't start a new story, because I still haven't finished ****It's Time to Let it Go,****but this idea wouldn't leave me alone. As this is just a prologue, the main story will take place a few years later, and the following chapters will be much longer than this one. Input, please? Flames welcome.**

**Oh, and if this gets positive reviews, then I'll update the next chapter next weekend.**


	2. I

Chapter I

Students, ranging from the ages of sixteen to thirty-two, raced out the room door just as the bell rings as if the hounds from Hell were nipping at their feet. All except a tall, seventeen-year-old boy who was casually walking away, with seemingly not a care in the world.

But everyone knows, most of all him, that looks can be deceiving. In actuality, hundreds of thoughts were passing through his head, each getting barely a moment's pause before being stored away somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind. His thoughts ranged from if he had enough money to pay his rent on time to when he was to find the time to write the paper that was due in the morning to whether of not he ate breakfast this morning.

The important things, like the first two, were catalogued to keep under constant surveillance so he didn't forget, but the latter was quickly thrown away as trivial, unimportant.

His deep black eyes, eyes that gave away nothing of his previous thoughts or worries, stared coldly around the campus, automatically calculating the quickest route home with the least amount of people to walk by.

Even though he wasn't new –he'd moved here nearly two years ago- the people here acted like he was a freaking god or something. All during his junior and senior years at the high school, they were constantly trying to get to know his, and while he wasn't exactly mean, his personality didn't bode well for friendships. Since college began, the locals who chose to attend the university gave up on getting to know him better; to just watch from afar and keep his "mysterious" personality intact.

It wasn't like it was a new thing, being alone. He'd been alone, really alone, since his brother died all those years ago. Sure, a nice family had taken him in, just after the funeral, but it really wasn't the same.

Even if he was only nine then, he had understood why Kakashi was unable to care for him, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. Instead of being with family at that crucial time in his life (or as close as family as he could get), he was taken in by a kind couple with two other kids. He was taken away, out of the state, and was almost happy where he was.

But he, growing up without extreme amounts of fluff, wasn't comfortable in the _huggy, _compassionate family. He wasn't blaming them, but he was set in his ways, and all the hugs in the world weren't about to change his Uchiha demeanor. Because he was, no matter how hard he tried to deny it, and would always be an Uchiha.

So he got out of there as soon as he could. Emancipated himself at fifteen and moved here, to Konoha, because of the school systems. That and he was accepted for a full scholarship to the high school. And since he was completely broke, didn't have any of the money from his real parents, that was spent on copious hospital bills, the scholarship was a godsend.

He was, however, still in touch with his foster family, no matter how hard he tried to stay away. And he didn't really want to stay away. They were kind people and he was adamant to admit that they had swayed his opinion more than once.

He looked down in distaste at his tiny studio apartment. It had seemed much larger two years ago when he had first rented it, but then he grew a bit more, pushing 5'11" and now it just seemed a little bigger than a box.

Barely three rooms, they were all surprisingly cluttered, but somehow clean. There were stacks upon stacks of books, covering almost every free space of floor, with almost every spine cracked. Each looked worn, well read, and they were for a variety of different readers.

The rooms were so small, that it the floors were bare, Sasuke could walk from his bed to the bathroom to the fridge in barely three strides. He hated the place, but thankfully didn't spend that much time there. He worked two jobs just to be able to pay for _this _place, tuition and food.

Which, as he looked at the clock, he would be late for, if he didn't haul tail-feather. He dropped his bag on the couch-turned-bed and stripped his shirt, looking for his work shirt.

The shirt was, ironically, being used as a bookmark in his Sociology book. He snorted humorlessly and ripped it from the book, pulling the ugly shirt over his head. His name tag, perched precariously on the very edge of his table, held by nothing but magic, was shoved into his pocket as he looked around the kitchen looking for something to eat before his shift.

He sighed, grabbing the final slice of cold pizza that had been barely feeding him for the past four days, and looked down at his jeans. They were worn, with a couple of small holes, but they were the very best he had. So he just shoved his feet into Chucks, pizza hanging from the corner of his mouth, and jogged out the door.

* * *

One would think that, of all places to work, a café would be the best place to work. And, out there somewhere, it is. Just not Java Sounds. The owner was a sadistic basted with a god-complex and the tendency to make very inappropriate comments. To his younger, _male, _employees.

But, despite all his bad qualities, he has _some_ good ones. Like he gives you three strikes: you can be late three times before he fires you and he also gives his employees a _fifteen _minute break if their shift is longer than four hours.

Thankfully the man makes up for all his faults by giving them a hefty paycheck. It was because of Orochimaru and Java Sounds that Sasuke could even afford to live in his tiny apartment; one biweekly check would pay a smidgen over two-thirds his rent.

So, for the money, Sasuke –and all the other employees- would put up with the eccentric man's behavior and tendencies, as best they could.

Sasuke was, only just barely, able to clock in on time, when he checked the schedule to see who else was working. The shift manager for that evening was a strong redhead, with a temper that could only be described as explosive, and a potty mouth to boot. Tayuya, the girl's name was. Sasuke hoped, prayed, that he wasn't the only one working when, thank god, he noted Jirobo's name, one of Tayuya's favourite verbal punching bags, and Gaara Sabaku, who wasn't bad.

He had been working at Java Sounds for a little over a year, and it didn't take long for him to figure out whose bad side you didn't want to get on or whom you didn't want to have to work with alone.

For instance, he knows that Tayuya's bark really is as bad as her bite, and her bite's _hurt._ He knows not to talk with anyone (not that he does) when "the boss" is in, or when Jirobo is especially grouchy, or he _will _sit on you (this Sasuke hasn't experienced first hand, but he'd seen it. Twice).

He almost never had to work with Kabuto, Kimimaru, or either of the twins, Sakon or Ukon, because they mostly took the graveyard or early morning shifts. _Why _Java Sounds is open twenty-four hours a day, though, is beyond Sasuke. But they are, and someone is always working.

Some would wonder, if they were allowed to pry, _how _Sasuke has time for all that he does. He goes to class, on average, for seven hours a day five days a week; he works two jobs, trying to clock in at least forty-five hours in total; he works at the local hospital pushing thirty-five hours some weeks; and ass together the time he spends on homework, reading, and all the other miscellaneous things, he gets, on average, three to five hours of sleep at night.

All in all, he's probably the world's busiest teenager. And it wasn't as if he could give any of it up. He's going to school to further his education, so he can eventually make more money; he's working to pay for said education, and food and shelter; he needs time to sleep; and he _can't _give up working at the hospital, and even though he doesn't get paid for it, it was a promise he'd keep forever.

And somehow, between all that, he somehow finds time to spend with Kakashi, outside of class. He also finds the time to study, and he's somehow near the top of each class. But of course, nobody but him knows of his insanely busy schedule, not even Kakashi, though he was sure the man has his suspicions.

Speaking of the gray("Silver damn it, silver!")-haired man-devil, he had just sauntered up to Sasuke's register, nose literally in his porn book. "Coffee and cruller, if you please."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the pure repeated-ness of this line. Every single afternoon or evening he worked here, like clockwork, Kakashi would come in, order the same thing, sit in the same spot, but never coming in when Sasuke wasn't working. And Sasuke still had no idea how, or why, he did it.

"Thank you for coming to Java Sounds, if you need anything else, feel free to ask." And Sasuke rolled his eyes once again when Kakashi snickered, like he always did, while chirping, "I will!"

He then went back to trying to clean the cappuccino maker, with very little success. On the second time his hair almost fell into the gunk he was supposed to be cleaning, he pushed back with an aggravated huff and looked loathingly at the machine.

"Hoping you will glare the contraption into cleaning itself, Uchiha?" came a faintly amused voice from just behind him. Being quite used to Gaara popping up unannounced, at the most inopportune moment, he did little more then flinch and look back at the redhead.

"I suppose it would be no use, still, to ask you not to sneak up on me anymore, Sabaku?" Sasuke said as a way of greeting, along with a nod of his head.

Gaara returned the nod with a small smirk and a simple, "Nope," as he took Sasuke's spot at the register, clearly telling him to finish his task.

Only a few of the more mild string of curses Sasuke began actually made it to their target, whose smirk grew with each bit he heard.

"Nuh-unh-ahuh!" Tayuya chastised, popping out of thin air, and wagging her finger at the boy's only visible body part, his backside. "No fucking swearing, you stupid shit!"

Sasuke climbed out from the "fires of hell" affectionately dubbed, and with a glare and a scowl, replied, "I don't see you trying to clean this shi- stupid thing, _ma'am!"_

Instead of glaring back at the "ma'am" comment, Tayuya just grinned satanically. "That's because _I _told _you _to do it!"

Sasuke's glare deepened at the look of sadistic joy on the woman's face as he crawled back into the machine that would soon be his down fall.

* * *

A few hours later, just as the sun was completely set, Sasuke's shift ended, thankfully, with him alive to tell the tale. He had spent much too long cleaning the machine that by the time it was clean, his shift was over.

He looked longingly in the direction of his apartment, but sighed when his feet took him in the opposite direction, towards the hospital.

Where he normally worked as a "candy striper" in the children's chronic disease wing, often late at night, which was all he really had time for. But the kids' faces made up for the lack of sleep when they see him visiting. Most no longer had visitors, so they were excited when he came. He didn't _just _visit the kids, he also _worked;_ he did a lot of footwork, clerical work, and cleaning work.

"Oi! Sasuke!" came a voice from behind, waking the boy from his standing sleep.

He jolted forward, the only thing keeping him vertical was the tight-fisted grip on the back of his shirt, preventing him from an impromptu date with the floor.

Disoriented, he turned unsteadily to a face full of Tsunade and almost fell over backward at the invasion of his personal space. "I wasn't sleeping," he muttered indignantly, when he finally regained his bearings.

An amused smirk made it to the woman's face as she sarcastically replied, "Of course you weren't. So you remember the entire conversation we just had?"

"Sure…" he said. "You were talking about loosing all your money last night in a great game that you were _just so close _to winning?"

Tsunade blinked and scowled, but softened, as Sasuke's eyes seemed to slide out of focus. The reason she came over was to force the boy to go home, as it was after two, and he's been there since six. She wasn't sure if the boy was _trying _to work himself into an early grave, but the hospital was indebted to him completely, for all the work that he'd done. She didn't know his drive behind working so hard, didn't really know anything other than his name and the fact that nobody was supposed to know he was there. The only reason she actually knew his last name was because she had to literally beat it out of him, about three months after he started working.

"Look Sasuke, just go home, get some sleep _laying down, _in an actual bed. And not an empty gurney like last night, don't think I didn't see you!" Tsunade could have sworn she saw Sasuke look momentarily guilty, but it was quickly shaken away with a nod.

"Okay," he said, trying but failing to stifle a yawn. "Just let me say goodnight to the kids, alright?"

At Tsunade's nod, Sasuke turned on his heel and walked towards the doors at the end of the corridor. Upon his arrival the two kids awake in the ward began to call him over. He shushed them kindly, with a small smile, pointing at the sleeping kids, and walked over. The two kids awake, twin girls, were smiling up at him, and watched him walking with tired eyes.

"Did you two stay up for me?" Sasuke asked, frowning slightly.

One girl, the elder, just beamed and said, "Of course! You said you'd come back before you left. And it wouldn't do any good if you had made a promise but nobody was awake to see you keep it!" The eleven-year-old had a most angelic smile on her face, belying the mischievous glint ever present in her eyes.

"Ahh, I see. Keeping me honest, are we?" he said, playing along.

"Of course!" the younger said, loud enough for Sasuke to shush her again and point to the sleeping kids. "Oops, sorry. But we thought you forgot about us, because you said you were supposed to get out early to work on your paper, so when you didn't show up at one like said, we got kinda worried, and…-"

"Hush, T, I think he gets the point!" T sent her mouth and looked apologetically at her sister, then (with her sister) looked expectantly towards Sasuke.

He smiled sheepishly. "I, kind of, fell asleep…" The girls laughed at his expense before he shushed them yet again.

"Now shoo!" Sasuke looked up at the elder twin in confusion. She smiled, "You look dead on your feet. And you still have that Sociology paper to write, due tomorrow…? Which I'd bet Tsunade you haven't even started yet." At Sasuke's guilty expression, her suspicions were confirmed. "So go! We'll see you… tonight? Right?"

Sasuke nodded, agreeing, and bent down to peck each girl on the forehead. "Goodnight T, goodnight Ceelie."

"Goodnight Sasuke!" they chorused, earning yet another shush. They giggled at his retreating form and were asleep by the time he left the building.

He walked home in the quiet, hands in his jeans pockets and staring into the sky every once and a while. He thought of stopping by Java Sounds for a coffee, but that idea died as soon as it began; he had no money. He just hoped he'd be able to finish his paper without falling asleep halfway through like last time.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long, I was just really busy this week. Thanks for such a positive response on the prologue! Made me so happy! I dunno when I'll update again, hopefully this weekend? (This was the longest chapter I've ever written!).**


	3. II

Chapter II

"Ahh, so good of you to finally join us, Mr. Uchiha. You're even later than I was."

The normally well-kept, together boy glared at his smug teacher, with a beautiful case of bed-head, barely noticeable bags underneath his eyes, and wearing the same jeans as the day before, not that anyone noticed.

"My, don't you look pretty. Very well rested," the Sociology professor said as the rest of the class giggled.

"Shut up Kakashi, be glad I even showed up," the boy muttered darkly while taking his seat in the back of the room, after he had passed in his paper.

"Anyway, what I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, is instead of another _boring _paper for me to have to grade, I've found the perfect alternative! Community Service!" he waited for the assignment to really sink in before dropping the bomb. "With partners!"

A simultaneous groan was heard throughout the class. Sasuke, however, eyed his teacher suspiciously; he really didn't like the look in the man's eye directed towards him.

"I have," the man in the front continued, "already chosen your partners, and where you will be working. Now, won't this be fun!?"

Insert cricket chirping here.

"Anyway," Kakashi coughed after a lengthy silence, "After you complete the assigned thirteen hours, I expect you to write a _brief _paper on what you did, what you learned, so on and so forth."

"Sir?" a pink-haired girl, that she swore was natural, from the very front of the room raised her hand. "That's all we get, "what we learned?" Nothing else?" At Kakashi's nod, she huffed in her seat, but perked when she remembered something. "Who are the partners?" she hopefully, eyes darting to the back of the room where the Uchiha sat.

"Right! Let me just find them," he muttered, shuffling around his desk for the piece of paper that was in his hand. "Oh. Ha! Here we go!"

He began reading names, and groans were heard across the room. Sasuke's head perked when he heard his name, and Kakashi paused slightly to look the boy in the eye and smirk. "Uchiha and… Uzumaki, hospital volunteers."

Sasuke's vision swam red, he was that angry with the _gray_-haired pervert. His boiling blood was pounding in he ears so that he wasn't able to hear the indignant squeak coming from the sun in the room, nor the comment of, "Why do _I_ have to work with that bastard?!"

Eyes promising nothing less than massacre, Sasuke watched as Kakashi finished the lecture, getting more and more nervous as the time passed, from the killer intent in the back of the room. Not that the nervousness was visible to any of his students save one, because the very hesitant quaver in his voice when his eye wandered to the back of the room was virtually non-existent to anyone who hasn't known the teacher longer than a semester.

It wasn't that Kakashi was afraid of the Uchiha, per say. It's just not a wrath he would enjoy having evoked on himself. He'll admit that the initial shock on the boy's face was priceless, almost worth the wallop he was about to get. He may be small, but he can pack quite a punch, that was a lesson he wouldn't soon forget. And the Uchiha rage unleashed against you is not a pretty sight. The last time he had made a flippant comment about the boy's growing hair was about a month ago and for the next week he was sporting a brilliant shiner.

But, in all fairness, Sasuke wasn't one to anger easily. Quite the contrary actually. Even for an Uchiha, he was more laid back than others, but when he was angry, really angry, his temper was just as explosive as the name he wears so proudly. His scrawny figure was in direct contrast to his anger; when he was angry, he could be as intimidating as a pro-wrestler.

Even Kakashi, clearing a cool 6'4" was slightly intimidated by the boy in anger, even when it wasn't directed at him, because he know the extent of the boy's strength an willingness to punish, if they cross a line.

"Oh, and before you go, class, if I'm not here on Monday, tell my wife and kids that I love them!" Kakashi said to the departing class, trying to make a beeline towards the door to his office so that he could lock himself into it while Sasuke cooled down.

A couple of the students had heard the comment and snorted, knowing full well that Kakashi was a bachelor and would never give up his one true love for a woman, his porn.

Kakashi's escape route was so close when Sasuke barred the door shut just before it could open, wearing a _pissed _expression.

"Care to explain what the _hell _you were thinking?" the boy said in an eerily calm voice, promising pain and destruction with the edge.

"Well, you see…" Kakashi said while backing up slowly, mentally searching for an escape route. "I, uh, thought it'd be funny?"

"Funny?" he said incredulously. "Funny? I'm afraid I don't see the humour in any of this."

"Well, it was funny to me," the nervous man popped out without thinking, then slapped a hand over his clothed mouth. "No, I didn't mean it!"

"Right," he said sarcastically. Then much more serious, "Why? And how?"

Kakashi cocked his head and let his hands fall to his sides. Was the big, bad Uchiha almost, dare he say it, pleading? "I have my resources. It just so happens that I have a few connections at the hospital, mainly Tsunade, and when I mentioned you to her, she told me you worked there," he said, trying to shift the blame and anger onto someone else's shoulders. He almost a mental jig when some of the fire left the boy's eyes, but refrained for his own safety. He continued, "And as of why? It was Tsunade's idea." It wasn't, but the way things were going, he'd be off scot-free when he left.

"Tsunade?" Sasuke said, mulling this over. "No, this sort of thing isn't her style. She isn't into psychological torture, much more the physiological warfare. No, this just _screams '_Kakashi.'"

Kakashi's mental jig stopped short and he began backing away again. He put his hands up in a placating gesture, "Calm down. I bruise like a peach!" **1**

"I know."

* * *

Sasuke was in a much better mood then he'd been in a while. Kakashi, now bruised, battered, and locked in his office with no way out, was thoroughly dealt with. Though Sasuke still wasn't happy with his position.

Out of all people in his Sociology course, he disliked the blonde menace the most. He was just so… _happy. _ And he was loud. The very converse of Sasuke. They were complete opposites, which was why, he was sure, that Kakashi stuck them together.

The man was sick in that sense; that he enjoyed causing people psychological anguish. _'But,'_ he thought to himself, '_he doesn't know _why_ I like to keep this a secret.'_

He sighed and ran steady fingers through his air as he thought back.

It was way back, he was about eleven years old, and his foster mother/6th grade teacher just announced to their class how absolutely _darling _it was that her "son" to visit sick kids in the hospital. So they were to follow his lead and make cards for homework that night. Suffice to say, the kids in his class were not happy about their assignment, they were sixth graders, and didn't make _cards _for homework anymore. And they let their unhappiness known in the form of ostracizing the poor boy, causing him to be even more introverted than before.

He was made fun of, by the males, for being so unmanly as to do something good for someone else. But the girls, they loved him for it, saying how cute it was for him to be so sensitive, causing the boys to get angry.

So when he moved to Konoha, he was sure to keep this tidbit of information about himself as under wraps as possible. He didn't want to be known as the sensitive pansy, and being chased even more than he already was. He covered his real personality with layers upon layers, if only to keep others at bay.

Now don't get him wrong, he most definitely _wasn't _a pansy or overly sensitive, but he was just slightly more in tune with the needs of others, and if he were in the position to help rather than hinder, he'd help. Usually.

But sometimes, only rarely, was he a serious bastard and actually meant it with every fiber of his being. And in his vocabulary, the term "hatred" was used very seriously, not nearly as fast and loose as most teenagers use it. There were, however, many people he disliked, but the feeling still wasn't as tall as hate.

He could remember clearly, every person he'd ever hated. The first was an old man, a neighbor, when he was six years old. The man had cats, so many cats that were so loud, causing his TV to blare well into the night. He always treated Sasuke like an extension of Itachi, and if he were ever alone, the man would ask about the elder brother, never the one standing in front of him. And that wasn't even the worst part to little Sasuke. The worst part was his smell. Sasuke was six, and therefore can't be blamed for his feelings towards the old man just because of his scent.

The second person he hated, was his brother. The man just _left_ him alone, after he had promised to stay. This only lasted a little more than a year, when he finally accepted that the fact he hated his brother was that he just didn't want to believe he was dead.

The third was a boy in his seventh grade class who, Sasuke assumed, hated _him _because all the girls were hanging around Sasuke and not him. So he said something derogatory, Sasuke couldn't remember exactly what, about his family. And because of the boy's small frame, everyone thought that Sasuke was an idiot for trying to take on a boy almost a head taller and twice his body weight. Less than a half-hour after the comment was made, the boy was trussed up in an ambulance heading for the hospital.

And Naruto was close to making that list.

Sasuke checked his watch, and barely restrained a yawn. He had two hours before his next class started, and he figured sleep sounded like an amazing thing to do.

* * *

Five o'clock rolled around, signaling the end of classes for Sasuke. He had planned on taking a few night classes, but quickly realized he was just way too overbooked.

He was supposed to be working tonight, but the night before a girl he worked with at the restaurant called and asked if they could switch shifts, and he said it was fine. So, as he really had nothing better to do, he headed to the hospital.

He remembered that when he was younger, he would go to the local hospital, and just get to know the sick kids. After a while he'd bring books, or any other small gifts, to them, but he still didn't feel like he was doing enough.

So he spoke to someone there to find out if he could do anything more, but because he was still too young, he couldn't. So the visits continued, and the day after his fourteenth birthday, he signed up for an auxiliary course to become a "candy striper," so he could do more. He'd run labs, do a lot of footwork, and was only rarely asked to do medial cleaning chores. But he still visited wit the kids, for hours at a time.

And he was just as sad as they were when he moved. The staff there continued to send him updates, maybe once a month, of the kids' conditions, just as some of the kids would send him little notes, letters, cards, anything to which he would reply to each and every one of them.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Tsunade asked, breaking off Sasuke's train of thought. The woman was startled to see the boy, because of the hours he'd clocked in the previous day, and he'd said he was working.

"I switched shifts with Temari; she has something to do tomorrow morning, so I said I'd cover her shift if she covered mine."

"Oh? That makes sense…" she trailed off, seeing the piercingly intense look she was receiving from the boy. "What?"

"'Community Service Projects?'" he said pointedly.

"Eh?" she asked confused. The metaphorical light bulb, and, "Oh! What'd Kakashi assign you?" The look she received was dull and dry, as if acting if she was serious.

"Did he now? What a stingy old man!" she laughed, never picturing the man to have quite the balls to pull something to dirty, so underhanded. She soon stopped, however, at the glowering face of the boy.

In a strangled voice, obviously trying to stay calm, he replied, "I had asked you not to tell anyone."

"Well, I just assumed that you had told him. He didn't even seem surprised when I mentioned it." She then had a most out of character impulse to say that she was sorry, because the boy just looked _so angry. _But she bit her tongue; wouldn't do to break her image, now would it?

"Oh, and before I forget, I was sent to run these, but since you're here, _you _can take these to the main desk," she said as she shoved the papers in her hands towards the boy. "Thanks! If you need anything from me, ask Shizune, I am officially off duty!"

"Lazy ass," he muttered after making sure the woman was out of earshot.

He hefted the papers and charts into a more comfortable position and walked for the main desk; all the while mentally maiming both bane's of his existence; Kakashi and Tsunade.

* * *

By midnight, Sasuke was sure he had mentally killed Kakashi a million times, each more violent than the last. His favourite was arson. But, he realized belatedly, that he wasn't as angry as he was (or wanted to be), and felt a little bad. Not enough to apologize, not even, but enough to consider letting the pervert out.

The man didn't have any classes on Friday, so nobody would think to come and check on him until Monday. Sasuke sighed and cursed at his damn conscious, which at the moment, ironically sounded like Kakashi.

So he sneaked stealthily onto campus and into the Sociology room.

And the scene he saw floored him then caused him to almost uncharacteristically fall to the ground laughing.

Kakashi, freaked because he had assumed he was alone, lost his grip on the ledge, dropping over twenty feet, right onto his bum. "Owww…" he moaned.

He had, somehow, managed to crawl out of the small window at the top of the room that connecting his office and the room. And the word small was used graciously; it was maybe two feet by two feet. Why it was there, he had no idea, but it was his only route to freedom, so he took it.

Sasuke, having composed himself after his little outburst, looked at the man, infinitely amused. His amusement turned to shock when he poked his head in to office and noted nothing was tall enough for Kakashi to stand on to reach the ledge. "How did you make _that?"_

Kakashi stood up, brushed off the back of his pants, and replied mysteriously, "With my mad ninja skillz." **2**

Sasuke rolled his eyes at that, and again when the man slung an arm around his shoulders.

"You care! You were coming to let me out, weren't you?! I knew you couldn't hold a grudge!" he said as they walked out, favouring his right leg where Sasuke knew on his left was _very _bruised.

"Heh," Sasuke smirked, "That's what you think. I'm like an elephant, I never forget."

* * *

1. Not my line. Saw it on FRIENDS. (Which, by the way, is the best show)

2. Again, not exactly my line. Borrowed it after reading "Love, Shakespeare" by sha La La. oh my-my.

**A/N: My sad attempt with humour... Pah, I'm wicked sorry for not getting this out any sooner, I had it written by Monday, but couldn't find it in me to type it up. Also, school has been wicked bad lately, so much work! **

_**And **_**I got myself a new video game Wednesday. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2. And in that silly fight between Itachi and Kakashi, Itachi pwns my soul every time. I played for two hours yesterday and two hours this afternoon, just that one fight, and I **_**still **_**can't beat it. **

**Thanks for all the great reviews! And, I dunno when I'll update again, I'm taking a class after school for the next month, Monday through Friday, 3-5. So I'll try to get it up by Wednesday? But please don't hold it against me if I'm lying to yah!**


	4. III

Chapter III

A sigh. "Hello, my name is Sasuke and I'll be your server this morning. Can I start you off with something to drink?" he said, head down, not even having looked up when he arrived at the table.

Which proved to be a fairly stupid move.

"Sasuke? You work _here?_" an incredulous voice sounded, causing the boy to snap his head up. _Great, _now his morning was just perfect.

"Haruno… Uzumaki," he said in obvious fake politeness, shock worn off, and a forced nod to each. He brought his pad and pen up, looking expectantly.

"You really work here?" Sakura echoed her friend, obviously as incredulous as he was, only more polite.

Another sigh, only much more exasperated. "I think we've established that yes, I do work here. Now can I get you drinks or take your orders if you're ready?"

The two seated shared a look then ordered their drinks, but declaring that they still needed time to decide what they wanted to eat. Sasuke left to get the drinks and when he was out of sight and in the kitchen, he chucked a rag and pushed himself onto the counter, head in hands.

He looked up at the ceiling incredulously. "Do you hate me or something? Like watching me suffer?"

The cook, Suigetsu, having caught the rag thrown at his head, grinned and said, "Of course!"

Sasuke dragged his eyes slowly over and gave the cook a look that would have dehydrated him if he didn't already have so much water in his system.

"Want to switch shifts? I'll do the cooking is you take my tables; I'll even let you keep my tips?"

Suigetsu blinked for a moment, then let loose great hacking coughs, clutching his sides and barely able to remain upright. "Yeah right! The last time you were left in the kitchen alone to cook, we had to close down for a week because the fire department made us because of smoke damage!"

Sasuke scowled at the reminder and handed over the drink order, because obviously Suigetsu wasn't busy. "Slow morning?"

Sasuke just nodded; he'd been working for over three hours now and only two tables. He was handed the chocolate and strawberry milk with a smirk and shove, so he tripped and fell out the door, resulting in a very smooth save, not spilling a drop of liquid.

He glared at the doorway and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Damn that fucking fish-face…" He was still mumbling curse words as he walked to the table his three favourite people in the world were sitting at. Wait… three?

"Kakashi," he all but growled at the masked man smirking at him. He changed tactics when the smug look never left his face. "How's the wrist?"

Those seemed to be the right words because the man's smirk dropped; being replaced by an ashen faced grimace. It was a small threat in the guise of concern, but anyone with half a brain could tell the concern was as fake as the soliciting smile he gave the customers.

"What'd I do? Can I not visit my favourite, moody, antisocial, annoying…" he trailed off, suddenly perplexed. "I'm sorry, but I forgot how I started my sentence," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Sasuke retaliated by a quick but light jab, directly where he had given the man a bruise the day before, to the solar plexus. With the man wheezing, he turned to the two other occupants of the booth, just remembering they were there. "Can I get either of you something to eat?" he said through clenched teeth; he really didn't want to be there.

After he got their orders, he gave one final warning look to Kakashi, a 'he'd better keep his mouth shut if he knew what was good for him' look. Sasuke gave the orders to Suigetsu and because he didn't feel like talking to him anymore, as he'd used up his quota for the day with words, he left the kitchen.

He sat, back to the door and on the counter, so that he could still be watching for customers and watch over the ones who were already there, without actually conversing. He snapped open his chemistry book and read through the material, making sticky notes on the important information. He tapped his teeth lightly with a fingernail as he stifled another yawn.

Sasuke got up and poured himself a mug of coffee, then returned to pouring over his book. Though technically employees weren't supposed to eat or drink the food while on the clock, none listened to that rule. And it was just Suigetsu and him working, so that meant that he was in charge.

A call from the kitchen made him once again drop his book with a sigh. "Order up!"

He stopped dead and stared at the boy over the counter in full disbelief. "What?" the cook said defensively. "I've always wanted to say that!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and grabbed the orders. He placed them in front of their respective owners and asked if they needed anything else.

"Actually, I would like to know when you get off work? Or when you can take a break?" Kakashi asked pleasantly.

"_Why_?"

"Because," he said with cheerfulness that would make a cheerleader jealous. "You and Naruto here need to figure out when you'll do your project! And since it's due in two weeks, you'll have to ask for time off."

"Fine," he said, then to the blonde, "I get off in," he looked up at the clock, "a half hour."

The blonde smiled, so wide it seemed to take over his face, and said, "No."

"What? Why can't you wait?" Kakashi said, afraid for the sake of his ingenious plans.

Sasuke, however, could care less, so he just muttered a quick, "Whatever," and went to greet the new customers.

Less than ten minutes later he was cleaning the table where Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were sitting at, them finally being out of his hair. He sighed and popped back to his book, waiting for his shift to be over. And as luck would have it, Karin walked in soon after, and told him she'd clock out for him, letting him leave almost ten minutes early.

He just nodded his thanks and grabbed his books, shouldering his way out of the door. He was very thankful for the girl, because when he'd agreed to take that shift, he'd forgotten that he was already working at Java Sounds. So he had less than a half-hour to stop by his apartment to drop off his books before his shift.

But as he was walking, he heard his name being called from behind him and inadvertently cringed. The blonde was back.

"Oi Sasuke!" he called, trying to catch his breath. "Jeez, you walk fast!"

Sasuke gave him an angry look, mentally conveying for him to get on with it. "Was there something you needed?"

"Alright!" he said, then under his breath, "Bastard." Back to his normal tone, he continued, "About this project…? I _need _to get a good grade on this, so I did some research last night," he ignored Sasuke's snort and continued. "And I found out we have to take an auxiliary course first. I was thinking we should do that this weekend, and hopefully able to complete the hours this weekend if we try. Is that cool?"

Sasuke thought about it. He made most of his money on the weekends, so he would need to work extra hours the next week. But schoolwork did need to come first, so he nodded. "I'll try; if I can find someone to cover one or two of my shifts."

He ran his fingers through his hair, agitated that he wasn't going to be making any money this weekend. _'Well,' _he mused, _'There's nothing that says I have to eat.'_

Unbeknownst to him, he looked stressed, a face that Naruto seemed to catch with grace. But before he could do anything about seeing ol' "Ice Heart" showing some semblance of normal human emotion, it was gone and in it's place was the blank stare of "emotionless-ness". "Anything else you wanted?"

"Ah, yeah," he started. "Uh-" he trailed off because the boy in front of him was acting almost fidgety. "Am I holding you up or something?" he asked after the second time Sasuke had checked his watch.

"Are you trying to?" Sasuke countered, not meaning to sound quite so harsh. But if Uzumaki kept holding him up stuttering, then he would just have to leave.

"Jeez! I was just trying to be nice! You know, your such a bastard sometimes, I don't know why I'm even bothering!" Naruto continued to rant to loud to hear the quiet comment made by the "bastard" in front of him.

"I don't know what you bother either," he said in a not sad, but resigned voice. He was resigned to his fate as a "bastard" as it stung less than any other comment that could be directed at him.

Sasuke blinked, in apparent awe of how many words that boy could say in five minutes, not even stopping to catch his breath. His mask cracked a little as he interrupted, almost amused, "You can sure talk a lot, can't you?"

Naruto stopped in pure shock. Had Sasuke, _the _Sasuke Uchiha just almost joke? Sasuke also seemed to notice his comment was out of the norm, as he ratified it by erasing the amusement from his eyes and glaring.

"Ha!" Naruto said, pointing a finger at the now composed Uchiha. "You have a sense of humour!" Quieter, "Granted, not a very good one…" He paused then literally shook the nonsense thoughts from his mind. "You have an emotion other than anger and… Bastardry?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Nice butcher of the English language, idiot. 'Bastardry?' Really?"

Naruto just glared. Then he blinked, confused. "Wait a second. What were we talking about in the first place?"

If Sasuke were any less of a person, he'd have a nice, big red mark on his forehead from bashing it about the stupidity of man. This man to be exact. Was he serious? "You were going to ask me something…?" he prompted, but rolled his eyes at his own geniousness; it was like saying he'd actually answer it.

"I did?" He thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it wasn't that important."

Sasuke felt the sudden urge to choke. Was he serious? He thought about it and decided that he didn't care, not even a little.

So instead of answering, he checked his watch and gawked. He had less than five minutes to run two miles. _Two miles! _He'd never make it in time!

"Shit! I'm late!" he said, and took off like a bullet. He was a few hundred feet away before the blonde even noticed that he was gone.

The bemused blonde looked at the empty space for almost ten seconds before squawking in outrage and versed his fist in derision at the fleeing back of the Uchiha. "What the Hell?! You stupid bastard!" he paused then continued, "See you at noon!"

* * *

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Silence. Then…

"Uchiha?" Expectant.

Flinch. And hesitantly, "Yes sir?"

"Do you know you are," a pause. "_Ten _minutes late?"

A reluctant nod.

"I see. Understand, Uchiha, that this is your final warning. Late once more and no matter how much I like you, I'll be forced to fire you."

Another nod and the tense atmosphere dissipated, along with the man. Sasuke restrained shaking off the ominous feeling, but only just barely.

"That was… fun," Gaara said with no inflection whatsoever in his voice. Though he _would _think it was fun, reveling in the tense atmosphere from moments before.

"Stuff it," Sasuke replied, running a tense hand through his hair. All the hair gel in the world couldn't cure him of the cowlick in the back, so he tried to just go with it and tried in vain not to care.

If Sasuke hadn't been annoyed with the blonde before, he was now. It was all his fault he was late, and Sasuke was stubbornly holding fast on that notion. He was… partially at fault, but was not yet ready to admit it.

He worked on autopilot for the remainder of his shift; his mind, if you knew him well, was completely gone and off thinking of things that also weren't able to hold his attention for long. And this was so out of character for him, as he normally had complete control over his thoughts and actions.

All too soon, he was clocking out and walking across campus to his class that was about to begin. He vaguely thought about skipping, as the stress of things was beginning to get to him, but not showing up to class was such a waste of money.

And Sasuke was definitely not one to waste money, not when he worked so hard to earn it, anyways.

* * *

Early evening, almost nine o'clock, he unlocked his door with a sigh. After classes, he went straight to the hospital, and after only an hour or two, Tsunade caught him and sent him home for a night of rest.

He wouldn't admit it to her, or anyone else but the silence of his apartment, that he _was _tired. But it was surprising, the amount of sleep he didn't need to function. He was actually so used to acquiring little to no sleep that he wasn't sure if he'd even be able _to _sleep for longer than six hours. It was a… "gift," this partial insomnia. It helped him get most of his work done, let him work more and such.

He looked around his tiny apartment, searching for and stock piling, all his course books onto his already overcrowded table.

Before he sat down to actually do all this work, as he would probably not have the time to do over the weekend, he made his way to the fridge and poked his head in. Having found nothing he shut it in disgust and rummaged the cabinets for the next few minuets, finding only stale cereal.

Resolved that the next morning he _had _to buy something with nutritional value, he poured the cereal into a cup and set it beside him. With no milk, the stale meal didn't taste the best, but it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever eaten, so he made do with what he had.

Later that evening, Sasuke leaned back from his perch of hovering over the books with a sigh. He tiredly rubbed the soreness of his eyes; staring at the books with tiny print for hours on end, barely blinking and with no breaks, could not be good for one's eyes.

But Sasuke didn't care, not much anyways. Not even when his bed/couch was beckoning so provocatively, just begging to lull him to sleep. And Sasuke didn't resist that urge for very long; he got up and put his dish in the sink, then stripped down to his boxers and carefully slid between the covers, mindful of the precarious piles of books placed sporadically around.

Before he closed his eyes though, he thought for a moment about the coming day. He knew that somehow and in someway, something was going to go wrong. It was a feeling he often got, an ominous feeling of foreboding, telling him something was astray and wasn't about to happen in the way that held originally planned or wanted it.

He shook off the feeling, however, and blamed it on upcoming bad weather. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

**A/N: Please don't hate me! This took way too long to write, and in my opinion was a really crappy chapter, only because I couldn't seem to write it for very long, there were lots of starts and stops, making it seem choppy I guess? I dunno, but I've been really **_**really **_**busy with school, it being in the final weeks and teachers giving inordinate amounts of work. So only expect another update around the 12****th****, because that's just the week of finals and I won't have any work assigned then. Thanks for all those lovely reviews as well, they kept me motivated! **

**ALSO, FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE ITTLIG SEQUEL: I probably won't get the first chapter done by the first, only because of school and whatnot eating my soul. But it will be posted before my last day, the 16****th**** I think. THANKS for being so patient for it!**


	5. IV

Chapter IV

Sasuke decided, the next morning, that karma hated him. Maybe it wasn't karma, but someone definitely liked to see him suffer. His morning began with bad and only got worse.

When he rolled out of bed that morning, he had, somehow, accidentally forgotten about the books at the foot of his bed. So with one fell swoop, he knocked every book off, and they then started a domino effect. Of the few hundred books he owned, maybe fifty of them _weren't _caught in the crossfire, and that was only because his bathroom door was closed. And so he spent his morning grudgingly picking them up.

And then it just so happens that the grocery store by his house was _closed, _making him walk halfway across town to spend his money. Then on his way back, one of the bags ripped.

Suffice to say, this was _not _his day.

And the day could only get better; in a couple of hours he would be meeting up with the blonde nuisance. Oh yes, sarcasm was definitely his friend.

The one thing he refused to say, not that he was superstitious at all, but with the way his luck was going, he wasn't about to risk it; saying that nothing else could possibly go wrong. He thought it, hell it seemed like a mantra this morning, but he refused to vocalize those words. With the way his luck was going, a bus, an errant child, or something equally dangerous'd probably hit him.

And even though he didn't say "those words," the "gods" must have heard his thoughts. As he was eating breakfast, he somehow dropped the bottle of milk on his foot. Though luckily not all of the milk spilt out, just most of it. What a waste of money.

But by the time he was locking his door to leave and head for the hospital, he was in a positively foul mood. And though his walk caused him to loose a little steam, he was still radiating a dark aura when he was met with the smiling face of the blonde boy who obviously didn't hold a grudge.

"Good morning, you bastard," he said, absolutely beaming. He obviously felt pretty proud of himself for coming up with such a _witty _nickname.

Sasuke just grunted, his scowl still in place. He could just _feel _a migraine coming on from spending an entire day with this little ball of sunshine. But he realized that the sooner they began, the sooner they'll be done, so he ticked his head in the direction of the front doors.

Naruto, understanding what the other was insinuating, just nodded happily and began blathering blithely at his side, leaving little room for a word in edgewise, even if he _was _so inclined. So Sasuke just endured it as they walked through the building, "following the signs" to the main offices in the back, even though he knew where to go.

"And then I took the ramen… And I ate it!" Naruto finished lamely, but believing he did an amazing job in the retelling of such an epic tale. They came upon the desk they were looking for and Sasuke barely had a moment of silence before Naruto began talking again, though this time thankfully not to him. This time he was talking animatedly to the woman behind the desk, whom Sasuke knew to be Tsunade's assistant, Shizune.

When they had walked up to the desk, with Naruto slightly ahead of Sasuke, Shizune had given Sasuke a curious look; she had never seen the dark-haired boy with someone before. But at the sharp look he gave her, and the blonde boy talking happily, she understood that she wasn't supposed to know him. She was even able to understand the angry look that developed as the boy who introduced himself as Naruto explained that they were here for a school project.

Shizune finally realized why Tsunade had asked to conduct the auxiliary course for this weekend, instead of just asking her or one of the other nurses to do it. She wanted to see how Sasuke was going to handle being so out of control of his future. She just hoped that the older woman didn't let something that the boy didn't want known, accidentally slip, because no matter how angry _she _could get, she never have the pure rage of an irate teenage boy.

"Oi Uchiha! And Uzumaki," a voice called from down the hall, causing the two mentioned to turn to the voice to see the busty and infamous Tsunade. A glare was directed by the first, and a confused frown from the other.

"Hey…" The confused one looked over the woman. "I think I know you!"

"I should hope so, kid," Tsunade said, completely ignoring the scalding glare coming from the other boy. "Jiraya's an old friend and favourite drinking buddy of mine." She smiled proudly.

"Oh yeah! You're that old hag he talks about!" he replied, not noticing the angry tick of her eye. Sasuke wisely stepped back as Tsunade readied her fist towards the clueless blonde.

And just as he was about to ask why Sasuke had backed away like that, he knew because he became acquainted quite nicely with the floor. A large throbbing red mark appeared on his forehead, where he hit the floor, and rubbed it gingerly, "What was that for? It really hurt!"

Sasuke sighed and supplied the blonde with an answer. "Think about what you say, before you say it." He watched as Naruto frowned and almost snorted when the guy's whole demeanor lightened in recognition. "There you go."

"Heh-heh, oops?" he said, grinning sheepishly. "I thought I had just said that it my head, but I guess not…"

Tsunade looked at him in disbelief as Sasuke quietly snorted to himself. That was the most idiotic thing he'd heard in a _long _time.

"_Any_way, first things first. Let's head to an empty waiting room, goodness knows we have enough of those. We'll also have to wait a few minutes, there are supposed to be two others taking the course," Tsunade finished diplomatically.

At the two boys' nods, she led them to an empty room, told them specifically to "Stay put!" and left to fetch the others.

Oh yeah, today definitely wasn't Sasuke's day.

* * *

Half an hour and multiple growls "I don't care" and "None of your business" and Sasuke was at anger level five. Which, it just so happened, was ready to commit a felony, no matter the jail time or likelihood of him getting caught. He could have sworn his ears were bleeding from the sheer volume, pitch, and ability to go _on and on _from the blonde.

Can't he just give him _five _minutes of quiet? Was that really too much to ask for?

Apparently it was as Naruto took a deep breath and begun talking again. Sasuke just couldn't understand why he was so curious about a person he didn't know and who obviously didn't want to know him. Naruto was asking question after question about Sasuke and his life, and when he didn't get an answer, he wasn't put off in the least and just asked another question.

And he was starting to grate on Sasuke'slast nerve. But the blonde was saved from sure destruction as the door opened with a bang and Tsunade walked in, followed by two women, probably in their thirties. And they thought it was just _so cute _that two handsome young men were doing their part in the community and helping out people.

Sasuke just gave Tsunade a _very _dirty look, letting his irritation with the woman known. The woman, who just gave him a deceptively innocent look in return, walked to the very front of the room where a blackboard stood proudly. She wrote her name on it with a grin. "Welcome to the month of April's volunteer auxiliary course for Konoha county hospital. I am," she pointed to her name sharply, "Nurse Tsunade_._ I'll be your instructor for the next two hours. And if you listen to me carefully, we'll get alone _great!" _

* * *

"NO! You don't just "take a peek" at someone's private, _confidential, _medical records!" Tsunade said, restraining the urge to pummel the annoying brat into next week. But she couldn't deal with any more lawsuits this month. Oh the lawsuits...

"Hey!" Naruto said, pointing an enraged finger in the direction of the smirking Uchiha."I don't see _you _spewing out all the right answers, do I?"

Sasuke gave a short look, as if to say, "It's _so _obvious," before he answered in monotone, "You take the files wherever they are needed, and under no circumstances are you to even think of looking at them."

Naruto sputtered. "H-how di-did you-?" He composed himself slightly. "Do that?!"

Sasuke deftly held up the packet they were given at the beginning of the class. "Because it's written," he pointed to the first page. "Right here. And it's in big enough font that you'd have to be blind not to see it..." That and it's common sense along with stuff he'd already known from the last time he took the course.

"Thank you, Uchiha. Now Uzumaki_,_" she said as she waited for him to look attentively at her before continuing. "What do you do if something happens in the room your cleaning? For example, the patient starts vomiting blood?"

"Well, I'd go and help the guy...?" he answered nervously.

"EEERRRR! Wrong, you've now contracted HIV. Uchiha?"she asked, looking at the sad excuse for a class. After her little speech, those two ninnies ran from the room with their tails between their legs. Pfft, pansies.

"Call for a doctor, or nurse, and do anything within your power without physically touching them or having their fluids touching you. Like handing them a bucket, for example," he said offhandedly, barely having to think of the answer. He had been in a similar situation, once upon a time. When he was making the beds, a kid began getting sick all over her bed. So Sasuke had to simultaneously call a doctor in and keep the other kids from getting contaminated.

And since he technically wasn't medical personal, they couldn't even tell him what the kid had. It wasn't a big deal though, as later one of the older kids told him it was some rare blood-borne disease. Meaning it was a good thing that he fought his natural instincts to help and do what he was told in case of emergency.

It saved his life once. But now the knowledge was close to breaking his cover.

"You're... You're like a freaking _sponge _with all that you can remember!" Naruto said, not in the least suspicious, but more in awe. Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly in response. Better the blonde think him smart than learn his secret.

"Yes, yes, Uchiha is a genius, but can we please get on with this? Two hours is definitely not enough to cover all the material needed..." she muttered the last part under her breath. "And at the very end you get to get quizzed, whether we got to that information or not." Tsunade grinned satanically and waited as the _children _straightened themselves out. _Really, _was it so much to ask for a little undivided attention nowadays? The disintegration of youth indeed.

* * *

"Well," Tsunade began, "You've surprised me. I honestly thought you'd bomb it, what with the answers you've given me throughout this class. I'd say I'll miss you twerps if I thought I could get away with such a lie."

Naruto sighed in relief before the rest of the statement sank in. "Hey!"

Sasuke rubbed his ears. "I think you broke the sound barrier with that one. Or at least reached jet engine decibel levels. Can't you ever, I don't know, be _quiet?" _

Naruto took a hurt face, though if you looked close enough, you'd notice the mirth swimming in his bright blue eyes. "Nope. You're stuck with me in all my _loud _glory. These next few weekends are going to be _fun!" _

"Not quite the word I'd use, not even close," he growled back, his headache growing more intense by the second, as if to mock him.

"Okay, quit yammering. It's time to put my new slaves to work. Now, where to put you..." Her eyes lightened at the brilliant Idea that came to mind, but her hopes were dashed at the menacing look shot in her direction from Sasuke_. _She sighed, her fun for the day gone, and assigned them out. "Okay then, I'm assigning you to the elderly division; third floor, east wing. Go to the nurses' desk there and wait until someone shows up. They are just going to _love _you two up there; we've been so short-staffed lately that I'm sure you won't get bored for a moment while your there."

Sasuke nodded and turned on his heel, walking towards the stairwell at the end of the hallway, not coring too much that he was being rude to Tsunade or Naruto.

"Oi! You bastard_, _way to just leave me!" Naruto yelled as he ran after the retreating back of the cold Uchiha. About halfway there, Naruto turned around and grinned cheekily at the head nurse and raised his hand. " See you later, Old Hag!" And he was off sprinting down the hallway, not waiting to see the tick on Tsunade's forehead grow exponentially before she eventually exploded in an indignant yell and raised fist.

Sasuke turned with a raised brow when the blonde fell into step beside him. "Do you have a death wish, or are you really that stupid?"

And while a normal person in that situation would get offended, Naruto was obviously not a normal person and therefore he just grinned and laughed lightly. "No, I don't have a death wish, but you've got to admit, it's pretty funny to see Tsunade_, _or anyone for that matter, angry."

Sasuke just scoffed and rolled his eyes, opting for silence to a response like that. Plus, he wouldn't dignify something so _dimwitted _as that with an answer. They climbed the stairs in, surprising, silence and found the nurses' desk with no problems.

Only problem was, nobody was there. So Sasuke leaned against the desk, keeping a lookout for errant nurses supposed to be there. He had no fear about being here so openly; he never came to this part of the hospital. He was normally on the first floor, west wing, and the nurses from the two divisions tended to never interact.

They didn't wait long. Just a few minutes after their arrival, a harried looking nurse asked them of their purpose. And the woman almost swooned when they told her that they were volunteers, and that they were there to help out.

She quickly put them both to work; mostly making beds and doing really easy things like that. Things that not even four hours in was making the blonde moan and groan about his aching and tired feet. Sasuke,who was used to working so hard, wasn't complaining and found it faintly amusing that Naruto was this out of shape. His pounding headache had almost completely gone away finally, and he had his first weekend free of work in months.

So Sasuke was -almost- in a good mood. By his standards anyway.

* * *

Later that day and into the early evening, Sasuke sat peacefully beside a bed, quietly reading a story to the occupant. Naruto had left just an hour earlier, and Sasuke had made reluctant plans to meet at noon the next day.

He was loath to admit that, though he didn't like the blonde, his determination and passion impressed him. People just didn't have that sort of spirit or drive anymore. In a way, he was almost jealous of the carefree attitude the other held; that pure, childish energy.

But hedidn't want to ponder this "acquaintance" any longer. He wanted to be able to get the project over with and be done with the blonde. He didn't even bother to let the little voice in his head _breathe _the thought that he might be making a friend.

* * *

**A/N: I liked Tsunade here I don't think this chapter is really "at my standards," but I liked it. Not sure why, but I did. This week has been hell, trying to get all my work in, and actually make time to write. And next week is just going to be worst: finals. And I know I'm not going to do so good, especially in my Latin finals. I'll just need to study, study, study! Thanks for all the lovely reviews, I really appreciate it! And an update at the end of next week, maybe the 20****th****, if I do well on my finals. 'Cause if I don't, then I may not feel up to writing… **

**Oh, and anyone who catches the small Death Note reference, you deserve a virtual cookie. I just couldn't resist putting it in!**

**ALSO: ITTLIG sequel is now out! Read it!**


	6. V

**A/N: Only one thing to say in my defense. If y'all kill me, you won't find out what's gonna happen next!**

Chapter V

Sasuke woke the next morning in a much better disposition than the day before. He didn't knock over all the books in his possession, he didn't drop his milk when he ate his breakfast, and he didn't have any schoolwork to do.

If he were in less control of his thoughts, he would've said he was actually having a good day.

After he ate breakfast, he began looking over his finances: balancing his checkbook, and other various dealings with his small sum of money. He figured that if he were to continue working the hours that he already was, he'd be able to eventually quit one of his jobs and still go to school, living off the other. He may also eventually gain some free time.

In his bank account, he calculated that with the interest gathered in the next couple of years, continuing with the salary he's been earning, he'd have enough money in his account to pay for the next three years of schooling by the end of the summer.

And this was definitely looked forward to, free time. He didn't want to completely burn out before he was twenty, and if he continued the way he was going, that is exactly what would happen. And he really didn't want to outlive his brother only to develop ulcers or die from an early heart attack caused by stress.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, however, he abruptly stood up and put that particular stressor away. It wasn't that he was poor, and money was an extreme stressor; if worse came to worst, he could borrow money from his foster family. They weren't rich, but they lived comfortably and would be happy to lend him the money, if he asked. Except that he was too proud to ask for money. He was an Uchiha, after all, and Uchiha's _don't_ ask for money.

So Sasuke's day was still looking up as he locked the door after him after deciding to take a walk. After all, it was the nicest day they've had after a long winter and Sasuke was never one to pass up a walk in the nice weather.

There was just something alluring about the clear skies and a cool breeze to him. The quiet serenity of a walk in the park always helps him organize his thoughts. Not that his thoughts were often out of his control, but it was just relaxing to know it did.

But what was most certainly _not _relaxing was a bright blonde interrupting his train of thought and personal space bubble in one fell swoop.

So Sasuke's tone wasn't exactly nice when he asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Yeash, your such a bastard," Naruto replied good-naturedly, apparently now immune to both the Uchiha's bark _and _bite. "You looked lonely walking all by yourself, so I thought I'd join you."

Sasuke glared, but raised an eyebrow. He wasn't feeling particularly lonely. He _was _felling pretty peaceful, though. Surprising even himself, he capitulated, with conditions. "Fine, you can join me." At the incredulous look, he laid his demands. "_If _you can keep quiet. Perfectly, blissfully silent."

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it and instead nodded with a grin. They walked in silence, admiring the lovely spring weather. Sasuke was immensely surprised that the blonde even knew the word quiet and even more so that he was able t act out the definition.

Sasuke glanced down at his watch and paused. They had been walking for almost a half-hour -in complete silence. He sighed noiselessly and opened his mouth.

"I have to go; I need to stop by my apartment before heading to the hospital. I'll see you there," and he walked off, saluting a peace sign, not waiting for an answer.

An outraged squawk followed by a hissed quiet, "Bastard," caused Sasuke to smirk in amusement, hidden from everyone save nature.

Within minutes he was plugging his key into the door and pushing it open. He didn't bother with closing it -he'd be leaving in a few minutes anyway.

He quickly gathered his work shirt and nametag, along with a bottle of water and a granola bar and stuffed them into his small backpack. As he couldn't get the entire weekend off of work, he would be going directly from the hospital to work at Java Sounds. If he was lucky, he'd be able to sneak out from the hospital early so that he wouldn't be late to work.

One could only hope.

A shuffling sound from the open door alerted Sasuke to the presence of a stray. Person, that is.

Sasuke shook his head of it's previous thoughts and walked to the door. A growl was heard when he spotted the sheepish creature backing away, hands raised innocently. All previous thoughts of possible almost acquaintances flew from his mind when he took in the blonde's guilty look.

"What, pray tell, do you think you're doing?" the menacing growl was heard. He could _sort of _understand the blonde's curiosity with him, always being as enigmatic as possible, but he liked his privacy, damn it! He _needed _his privacy!

"Heh-heh, oops?" was all he got in return. It took every ounce of his self-restraint to not strangle the blonde on the spot. In the back of his mind, he was proud of his obvious self-restraint, but this thought was quickly being out-shined by the strong urge to _kill _this annoying nuisance. The urge was, slowly but surely, drowning out common sense at this point.

"I was curious, okay?" Naruto said, obviously oblivious to the waning self-restraint of the Uchiha in front of him. How was he to know he was mere words, mere minutes, away from sure annihilation? "You're always so secretive, so I thought maybe I'd follow you home to see-"

"Stalk me?" He didn't raise his voice, but it was powerful all the same.

"No!" Naruto shouted indignantly. "I wasn't hiding; you must've been too preoccupied to notice me following you, that's all. Plus, you're always so quiet, it wasn't like you were about to invite me over, so I took it upon myself to invite myself."

Somehow the blonde gained courage during his little speech, and it was the courage that calmed the unrivaled Uchiha rage, if only just a little. He was no longer close to loosing his cool, doing something he may or may not regret. He was, however, still furious, though no longer in such a blind rage.

"It changes nothing. You," he restrained himself from poking the blonde in the chest, "still followed me to my _home, _with no respect for my privacy. You think something like that is proper etiquette?"

The blonde didn't bother to answer, because he hadn't heard. He was too busy looking curiously around the studio apartment. "Wow, this place is tiny. I sort of thought you'd live in a big fancy mansion with your family." Naruto didn't notice he'd done the taboo, in mentioning the "f-word". He continued on with rambling about how small his place was and so seemingly out of character it was. He didn't even notice the once again darkening aura surrounding the Uchiha.

"Naruto," he cut off the blonde abruptly, who looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Just shut the hell up and leave," he said with an angry leer.

Naruto blinked confusedly at the malice and hate in Sasuke's tone, but had enough sense when to know to push his luck, and he was definitely pushing it. He backed out of the apartment that slammed with a resounding snap as soon as his toes cleared the threshold, all the while stammering apologies he didn't know what for.

He frowned at the door for a minute, but the metaphorical light bulb blinked on and he snapped his fingers. "I'll ask Kakashi!"

* * *

Sasuke had never before been so out of control of his own emotions before. Yes, he'd always never been able to fully reign in his rage, but usually he had enough bearings to be able to hide it.

He had not meant to loose it so much in front of Naruto, which was why he was able to be so rude and not care. There was just something about the blonde that made him much more quick to temper than anyone else.

He put his pack that he held in a vice-like grip on his floor and sat cross-legged. He'd meditate for a few minutes before meeting the blonde again.

He'd make sure he was in control of himself the next time they met.

* * *

It took less than five minutes for Naruto to sprint to the perverted professor's apartment. And the only reason he knew where the man lived was because one day he'd refused to have class in the school and instead invited the entire class to his apartment.

It was weird, but that's just how the man was.

A series of quick knocks followed by an apology for barging in on a Sunday morning, and Naruto was led by a bemused, but amused, Kakashi into his living room.

"And to what do I owe this pleasure, Mr. Uzumaki?" Kakashi asked, after just a moment's silence.

"You know Sasuke, right? Better than most, I mean?" Naruto began, trying to get a feel of the situation, if Kakashi could really answer some of his questions.

"I've known him for quite a while, if that's why you're asking. But why?" Kakashi countered, a strange light, gone unnoticed by Naruto, entering his eyes.

"Well, I was following him home this morning, after we'd accidentally bumped into each other at the park," Naruto started, conveniently leaving out the walking together part. The man didn't need to know _everything._ "But so I followed him home, to this really tiny apartment by the way, and he got seriously pissed. That I can kind of understand, but after I began talking about it, he got even madder and almost literally kicked me out. What was that all about?"

"Huh, I don't know. He _is _a very private person. Maybe it was in what you said. What _did_ you say?" Kakashi asked, genuinely gaining interest in the subject.

"Oh, I don't remember! I said something about how I didn't expect that he'd be living in such a tiny place all alone, and that he'd be living in a mansion with his family, or something. I don't see what would have made him freak out so badly…" he trailed off.

Kakashi nodded, enlightened. "There's your problem. Sasuke's a little… sensitive, I guess is the right word, when the topic is about family. He doesn't, well, have much of one. But that's all I can tell you. The rest you're going to have to find out from him yourself. I'm not really the one that should be talking about something so personal. Plus, he'd be really pissed at me if I told you."

Naruto nodded in understandment, but it still didn't take away all the confusion and questions he had. If anything, it just added to them.

Just who was Sasuke Uchiha, and what were his secrets?

* * *

The silence was awkward and tense as the two college students met by the flowering tree in front of the hospital, about a half-hour since their last encounter. One sporting an anxious and apologetic look, while the other wore his normal indifference mask.

"I'm really sorry for stalking you and whatever it was that I said to offend you." Naruto didn't bother to mention his little trip to Kakashi's for purely self-preservational reasons. That and Kakashi made him swear not to mention it to Sasuke, as he feared for his own safety.

Sasuke just waved a slightly impatient hand with a blank face. "Whatever; it doesn't matter."

Naruto gaped at the indifference in his voice before replying. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Sasuke?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, the only sign of his slowly growing annoyance. An eye twitch, but tone still not changing, he said, "I'm going to pretend you didn't seriously just say that. Now let's go before we're late."

"No siree! I'm not gonna let some imposter go in there. There's no way you can be Sasuke. He was _pissed _and I'm sure he wouldn't have gotten over being so angry, so quickly. Not a chance!"

"Just because I'm not showing it, doesn't mean I'm not angry. It just means I was going to let it slide, _if you would stop bringing it up,_" Sasuke said, voice lowering slightly to cover the quiver of anger that would have been evident, had be been talking normally. But he took a deep breath and counted to ten, calming him effectively.

Naruto's mouth opened to a wide, "O" and he nodded vigorously. "Yep, you're definitely Sasuke. Same bastard attitude," he added under his breath before continuing. "Okay, we can go in now, sorry about that…"

"Tch, whatever," was the only reply the blonde received as Sasuke walked past him and into the hospital. Naruto scowled as he raced to catch up with Sasuke's long gait, all the while muttering under his breath about annoying, quiet bastards who think themselves better than everyone else.

* * *

"Welcome to torture session two, my pretties," Tsunade smirked creepily when they reached the nurses station. She noted the sour mood the two were already in and sighed at the predictability of this occurrence. Really, were they college students or first graders, she wondered.

Sasuke had a small frown accompanied by crossed arms, while Naruto had a full-blown scowl and huffed every time his eyes drifted to his partner. Tsunade rolled her eyes at the childish behavior and cleared her throat.

"I don't know where to put you two today, so you two have the amazing job of cleaning the nurses station! Have fun with that," and she was gone, unwilling to deal with any bellyaching from the teens.

They turned to look at their daunting task. Both groaned, noting the huge piles of messy charts, and other random crap that has accumulated since the last time it was cleaned.

Unsure as to why, Sasuke spoke up. "For the record, I'm feeling inclined to blame you for this."

Naruto turned his incredulous eyes to the Uchiha picking up an old half-eaten doughnut and dropping it in disgust. "Why?! I didn't do anything!"

"I know," he answered and almost snorted at the blonde's confused look. "It just felt like the right thing to say, given our current situation. Plus, you're better to be around when you're angry, by not talking incessantly."

"Bastard!"

* * *

**A/N: Okay, this is definitely not some of my better work. And it's so short! But I had the worst case of writer's block that I just had to push past. This chapter was like two weeks late, and I'm really sorry that it took SO LONG. That and I haven't really been in a "Naruto" mood. I got Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, the video game, and that was so amazing, it took me less than two days to finish it (16 hours?). And then I got the movie, Advent Children, which is easily my most favourite movie of all time; I've watched it over fifteen times since I've had it, which is about two weeks. What can I say, I'm obsessed!**

**I WILL update before I leave to go on vacation, and we're leaving on the twelfth. Thanks everyone for all the reviews!**

**One last thing, I got a new FF account, and I have posted a couple of one-shots (2 at the moment) that I've had on my computer. PM me or something if you want it.**


	7. VI

**A/N: I'm thinking that I actually liked this chapter… Much more than the last one, anyway. Plus, I deviated from my original plot, just a little...  
**

Chapter VI

Almost finished with the mountain of cleaning Naruto and he were doing, which now resembled more of a knoll than a mountain, Sasuke looked at his watch and cursed. His foul mood and the tense atmosphere between the two all but evaporated when Naruto, smartly, decided to pick up a chart. From the bottom of the pile, resulting in an avalanche of papers, burying the poor blonde. After Sasuke finally got his laughter, however short-lived, under control, he helped get the papers off of him.

And so they had worked in an amiable silence, once in a while broken by commentary jokes by Naruto. They didn't often receive anything more than a smirk, but the amusement playing in Sasuke's eyes was unmistakable.

But now their "fun" was over because Sasuke was going to be late for work if he stayed any longer. And he _really _didn't want that. He stood up. "I have to go. We are coming in to finish the hours next weekend?"

Naruto nodded and stood up as well, brushing imaginary flecks of dust and dirt off his knees. "Okay. I'll see you in class on Tuesday, right?"

Sasuke just replied with a noncommittal shrug and a sigh. He turned and walked away. Then, almost as an afterthought, he raised his hand in a lazy goodbye gesture. Naruto belatedly returned the gesture and almost jumped out of his skin when a person appeared at his elbow.

"If he's leaving, you're free to go as well. It doesn't count toward your hours if you are both not here," Tsunade said, handing the boy his disturbingly orange bomber jacket.

"Okay, I guess I will. I have a paper to write, anyways," Naruto returned, muttering thanks as he slipped the jacket over his shoulders. He stifled a yawn and stretched the kinks that he'd acquired by not moving for a while from his back. He sighed with relief as the vertebrae popped back into alignment with a series of cracks.

"Okay brat, good luck with that. Oh, and remind Jiraiya that he owes me fifty bucks," Tsunade said, cackling evilly at her final statement.

"O-Kay, will do. Later Old Hag," he laughed as well as he danced out of the way of enraged fists. Halfway down the hall he turned, grinned cheekily and waved.

The grin settled into a content smile as he walked out the front doors. He's been making slow but steady progress with Sasuke, and by the end of the day, it seemed like he had put the whole "stalking" misunderstanding behind them. Naruto was glad of that; the Uchiha was already hard enough the get to know, without him hating Naruto's guts.

Naruto just hoped he wasn't digging his own grave, becoming someone's friend who didn't seem to want any.

* * *

Sasuke broke into a run as soon as he passed the threshold of the hospital, and begun to sprint when he checked his watch again.

He wasn't going to make it.

There was no way he'd make the twenty minute walk into a five minute run. Even if he'd sprint the entire way, he wouldn't make it. Even if he _could _sprint the entire way. He cursed under his breath all the way, pulling his work shirt on over his T-shirt without even slowing.

He clipped his tag on his chest just as he huffed through the doorway. He ran to the check-in clock, he was only two minutes late! But when he went to clock in, his eyes widened. Someone had punched in for him? If that was the case, Orochimaru couldn't have been there. _No_body would have clocked in for him, for fear of its negative consequences.

As it was, he couldn't really think of anyone who liked him enough to risk it. When he looked to see who else was working, he frowned. Gaara? It didn't really matter whom, he was just grateful.

"Hey," he said as he got to the registers. Gaara just turned to him and nodded, a faint smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "Thanks for," he gestured vaguely with his hands. "You know."

"No problem." Gaara's smirk grew as he waited for Sasuke to finish serving the creepy gray-haired patron. "But… It _is _my turn to clean the latte machine. And I know how much you _love _to clean those machines…"

Sasuke groaned. "Fine. I doubt I should have expected you to do anything just from the goodness of your heart. What heart, right?"

Gaara snorted. "Damn straight. You should know better than that."

Sasuke just growled in response.

* * *

"Helllllooooo? Anyone hoooooome?" Naruto shouted as he pulled his key from the lock and closed the door. After a moment of quiet, he answered his own question. "Obviously not. I guess it's just me, then."

He walked to the kitchen, maneuvering around the table without flipping in the light switch on. He rummaged around the cupboards, looking for his stash, and hooted when his hands reached his prize. He deftly turned the water on to boil and placed his ramen on the counter.

As he waited for the water to boil, his eyes roamed the room fondly. Though the ownership of the house had changed hands, he'd been living in it since his birth. It was first owned by his parents, then it was Jiraiya's, and it was soon to be his.

It was a beautiful two-story, three bedroom, and two bathrooms. In a nice neighborhood, it was two miles from the college campus, giving him a nice workout if he was running late. Of course he had a car, but he only used it when he really needed it. It was the car he shared with Jiraiya, and since he wasn't the best of drivers, he preferred to walk.

His eyes came to rest on the picture frame over the stove. It was a picture of a man he bore an uncanny resemblance to, from his mischievous grin to messy blonde hair, with his arm around an attractive brunette woman.

The woman, his mother, was Kushina Uzumaki, and the original owner of the house of _her _childhood. She had passed away shortly after his birth, the pains of childbirth being too much and contracting an infection that clipped her life short in her prime. Though he didn't really know her, the storied from Jiraiya and his father made up for that, he felt as if he knew her.

Then the man, by process of elimination, was his father, Minato Namikaze. A police detective, one of the best, until the day he died, almost five years ago; when Naruto was thirteen. It was in a shootout, between the police and some bank robbers. Naruto was told that it was a clean shot, killing instantly, so the man hadn't suffered. Why they had told a kid something like that, he didn't know, but was glad to know the truth.

Naruto's eyes drifted to the picture hanging next to that one. This was of his high school graduation, Jiraiya hiding his research paraphernalia behind his back and grinning to the camera, beside an equally happy Naruto, who had his arm slung across the older man's shoulders, giving him bunny ears.

Though technically they shared no blood relation, Jiraiya was Naruto's "uncle," though "great uncle" might've been a tad more appropriate, given the man's age. Or that's just what Naruto thought when he was feeling particularly spiteful or angry at the perv'. The man was Minato's advisor on the force, but before that he was a family friend and had known Minato since _he _was a kid. Safe to say, he retired shortly after Minato.

Naruto was startled back into reality when the water began whistling from the kettle. He then turned on the light to be able to see what he was doing as he poured the water into his ramen cup and closing it up again. He patiently waited the three minutes, then began wolfing down the meal. That was one thing he shared in common with his father -their love for ramen.

He slowed down when he was about halfway done, trying to savor the last bits. He walked into the living room, where he'd last left his textbooks, and pulled them towards him. He was already finished with the outline, the night before it was completed, for his psychology paper, and all he needed now was to write it.

Except that he just couldn't seem to focus.

His mind kept coming back to the Uchiha. He wasn't really a bad guy underneath that tough exterior shell, once you got to know him. But that was just it, Naruto _doesn't _know him, not very much anyways. But he had somehow made it past the boy's defenses more so than anyone, save Kakashi, in Konoha had. The only personal information he knew about the Uchiha was what Kakashi had told him, and that was only that he didn't have much of a family.

But that still didn't _tell _him anything. Naruto wasn't sure where all this curiosity was coming from, only that he'd always hated mysteries. And that he was just a naturally curious person.

And, boy oh boy, was Sasuke an enigma. He was smart, obviously, and was top of the class in high school. And the only reason, Naruto assumed, why he hadn't been valedictorian was because he didn't spend all four years at one high school. He liked to read, again obvious by the amount of books that were in his apartment. He worked a lot. And he probably wasn't rich, figuring the size of his apartment. It was either that or just that it was close to the campus, but Naruto had a feeling it was the former. He had a fairly explosive temper, but can usually reign it in. And finally that he was sensitive when it came to family.

The only relatively personal information that he was able to find out by himself was by "doing a Jiraiya" and stalking. Naruto will admit to it, it was definitely an invasion of privacy, but it was really the only way he was going to find anything out about Sasuke.

Naruto personally had no idea how anyone could be so cold and impersonal, and not get lonely. It as fairly obvious he didn't have any friends in high school; didn't _want _them. Because anyone who wanted friends wouldn't act like such a bastard.

Which begged the question, _what _was Naruto doing? Why was he bothering on a seemingly hopeless task? Simple. Naruto doesn't believe in lost causes. He's just hopefully optimistic like that. Plus he believes whole-heartedly that nobody _doesn't _want friends.

Naruto was once again shaken, literally this time, form his thoughts by the hand on his shoulder. He came to life animatedly, falling backward over the backing of the couch. The man who once had his hand on the blonde's shoulder raised his hands innocently, laughing all the while.

"Sheesh, you were so out of it! I came in calling your name, but nothing! What could have possibly absorbed _that much _of your attention?" Jiraiya asked, replaying that momentary freak-out of the blonde's over and over, mentally.

"Oh, I was…" he looked at the clock, then down at his computer. In the past hour or so, all he'd gotten written was the title page, nothing more. He smiled sheepishly. "I was thinking, I guess?"

Jiraiya laughed even harder. "Well, don't strain yourself! Woah," he took a good look at the un-amused Uzumaki's face. "You're serious? No joke?" At Naruto's nod, he cleared his throat and continued awkwardly. "Well, would you like to, you know, talk about it?"

Naruto paused for a moment, then shook his head, indicating a negative. "It's nothing overtly important. Just musings, if you will."

Jiraiya frowned. "Alright, who are you, and what have done with Naruto?" he asked in the exact same tone Naruto had used to ask Sasuke the same question, only mere hours ago. So Naruto, being who he was, just had to laugh at the irony of the situation. "What?" Jiraiya asked as Naruto began clutching his sides, cramping from laughing so much.

"S-sorry. It's just that I had said that earlier today to someone, and it was funny that you'd say it, too," Naruto explained. "Such a coincidence… Anyway," he shook his head of useless thoughts and focused on the man in front of him. "How was your day?"

Jiraiya smiled and pulled out his newest manuscript. "Fantastic! I got almost thirty pages written! And that's just what I got done after lunch! Before lunch, I had done tons of valuable research."

At the mention of "research," Naruto promptly rolled his eyes at the perv'. Research, yeah right! Peeping is more like it. But he didn't say anything on it; Jiraiya already knew his views on the man's "profession." So he just nodded through the rest of the man's explanation of his day, until he was finished and it was quiet. That was when Naruto remembered something sort of important.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Tsunade wanted me to remind you that you owe her fifty bucks? Does that mean she actually won a bet? I thought you'd said she was a sucker and never won? Eh?" Naruto stopped as he realized the annoyed patient look on Jiraiya's face, and he apologetically stopped to let Jiraiya get a word in edgewise.

"No, she hasn't won the bet. Yet. It's kind of an ongoing bet, and she thinks she's gonna win. And I may have to concede that she might," Jiraiya sighed.

"Really?! What was the bet?" Naruto asked, curiosity once again getting the better of him.

"Oh, it's not important," he replied evasively, not quite reaching Naruto's eyes as he talked. "Really, it's no big deal. Say," he pointed at Naruto's computer, "Why don't you get working on that paper you need to write, instead of putting it off until the very last second. You're already cutting it short as it is; isn't it due tomorrow?"

Jiraiya succeeded in drawing Naruto's attention away as the blonde scrambled to find all his papers and began hacking away on the keys to his computer. He smirked as he stood up and walked into the kitchen for something to eat. _'Man, that boy is easy to distract,'_ he thought to himself proudly. His pride was cut down, however, when, as he was leaving the room, a voice called out to him.

"I didn't forget. I expect answers when I'm done!"

* * *

"Sasuke? You work _here _too?"

Sasuke froze inside the overturned latte machine. He looked up towards the heavens with out moving. He mouthed, "Seriously? Are you _kidding _me?" He could _feel _Gaara's smirk as he crawled out and turned an incredulous look to the newest customer. _How _could the blonde have recognized him by only seeing his backside? He decided not to think about that, for the sake of his sanity, continuing to ignore Gaara's sadistically amused smirk, who was surely thinking the exact same thing he was.

"Yes," he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I work here."

"Quit socializing with the customers!" Tayuya yelled, popping in, like usual, from nowhere. "That latte machine won't clean itself, Uchiha! Wait… wasn't it supposed to be _your _turn to clean it?" she asked Gaara, invading his personal space and poking him in the chest. And despite his hate for being touched, his smirk didn't falter. He didn't even slap the hand away; nothing was going to ruin his rare good mood.

"It was, but Sasuke here, so graciously, offered to do it, as he is _just so good _at it," Gaara replied, only just able to hear the curses directed at him from Sasuke.

"Ah, whatever, just get back to work you slackers! I'm going on my break, don't miss me too much!" she yelled and disappeared as abruptly as she appeared.

"We won't," both Sasuke and Gaara said under their breath. Sasuke turned to Gaara and spoke in an even, serious tone of voice, "I hate you, you know that right?"

Gaara nodded and handed Naruto his change and coffee.

Sasuke scoffed and muttered to himself as he climbed into the machine again, "Yeah, give the hyperactive annoyance _more _caffeine. Bunch of friggin' geniuses."

"Thanks," Naruto started, blatantly ignoring Sasuke's previous comment. "Bye, Bastard!"

A salute from the hidden-from-view Uchiha, accompanied by an almost silent, "Later, Loser."

Gaara's smirk grew.

* * *

**A/N: Look, actually **_**on time.**_ **Scary as it is, it's true. Like I said, I think that I actually liked this chapter. I seem to have finally gotten back into the swing of things, so to speak, after going so long without writing. The lack of response to the last chapter was disconcerting, but I thank those who did take the time to review. I also took it as initiative. If the last chapter was so terrible, so then I'm hoping that this one is better by comparison, I guess? I tried harder anyways.**

**I'm going on vacation for a week, and won't be able to access the internet until the 19****th****, so I think I'll be able to update by Wednesday the 23****rd****. Until then, hold tight and wait expectantly for the next update!!**


	8. VII

**A/N: I apologize if this chapter isn't quite as long. I didn't even realize the size of my handwriting was growing while I was writing…**

Chapter VII

Kakashi's visible eye wandered across the classroom as the last of the students rushed into the room. Every student who walked through the door held the same look of utter disbelief. Kakashi was never on time, let alone early!

He noted the missing students with a nod, those he'd assumed wouldn't be there, weren't. His eye lingered a second longer on the empty seat at the way back of the room, a stab of pity and he tore his gaze away.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture today. And since I know that you college students are just _so _busy, I'll give you the next hour to work on your paper with your partners."

A flurry of excitement followed by anxious whisperings. The most outspoken girl in the class raised her hand.

"Ah, sir?" Sakura said, hand still hung questioningly in the air. She waited until Kakashi looked up confusedly to start talking again. "_Our _papers?" Her voice squeaked.

"Eh?" A look of dawning followed by a guilty expression. "I didn't mention it? Oops… Well, you're supposed to write a paper for me…" He trailed off. "No! I told you about it. I swear I'm not going insane. About this," he added in an undertone.

"Yes, but you never mentioned it had to be written _with _our partners! You only said to write a paper about "what we learned!"" Sakura all but shrieked, hysteria rising to it's highest.

"Oh?" feigned innocence laced the words. "Must've slipped my loose mind. It's supposed to be written jointly, with equal efforts by the two of you. And trust me, I'll know if one person did all the work," his voice dipped mysteriously, "I have spies _everywhere._"

Kakashi hid the evilly vindictive smile that wished to splay itself over his face as he looked on to the students' horrified expressions. By the expressions shown, he could tell exactly who had already gotten the paper done and finished with, even if they hadn't gotten any of their hours done yet, as he knew of some that hadn't.

He turned around to choke down a laugh at his students' panicked expense. Just as he was composed enough to turn around again, a hesitant hand tapped his shoulder. He spun on his heel and came face to face with a Naruto Uzumaki sporting an unamused look and a raised eyebrow, like the blonde somehow knew what he'd just been doing.

Though he didn't say anything on the matter, the silent accusation was still there, until Naruto spoke. "Sasuke's not here."

Unconsciously, Kakashi's eye softened imperceptibly. Not enough for Naruto to catch, thankfully, he said indifferently, "Yeah, so?"

"Well?" was the expectant reply. "Do you know why? How am I going to work on our paper, if he's not here? He said he was coming today, so…"

"Oh, he did?" Kakashi said, but changed his mind on what he'd wanted to say next, mid-word. "I don'-You can just jot down ideas on _what _you'll be writing about, like what you've personally learned and such. Then you can spend the remaining time I'm giving you all to work on other work or something."

"Okay…" Naruto said, confused. Was Kakashi skirting around a topic, or was it just his overactive imagination? "Is Sasuke sick, is that why he's not here…?"

Kakashi looked distinctly uncomfortable then; he'd need to work on his evasion skills apparently. "No, he's not sick, per se. But he's not here."

Naruto rolled his eyes and resisted slapping the idiot professor. "Obviously," he said somewhat sarcastically, earning a surprised look from Kakashi. _'Yes, I can do sarcasm, you idiot,' _he thought angrily. _Every_one thought he didn't have it in him. "So if he's not sick, do you know where he is then?"

Kakashi was torn by indecision. Self-preservation and his busybody tendencies were at war, once again, each trying to win with every trick in their arsenal. "Yeah, I know where he is."

The busybody obviously won out, by an absolute massacre. "But I don't think I'm supposed to tell anyone," he said, self-preservation not completely dead and cold yet.

Naruto's anger was quick to spark up. "What? Why not?" he cried indignantly, earning odd looks from his classmates, silently fuming over Sasuke's annoyingly overcautious, secret life.

Kakashi gave him a look that questioned his already questionable intelligence. "You do _know _Sasuke, don't you? The boy likes his anonymity, what can I say? I would say that your should just ask him yourself, but that'd probably yield even further answers. But," he paused for a moment, thinking. "He does deserve a little privacy."

Naruto huffed, not really convinced. "C'mon! I won't tell him that you told me anything, I promise!" He added on the charm with some deadly strong puppy dog eyes and pouting lips.

Kakashi considered him for a long moment before finally capitulating, however lightly. "Swear on your life that you won't mention this to anyone. Promise!"

"Okay, okay, I promise that I won't tell anyone, especially not Sasuke. So you'll tell me then?" he asked hopefully.

Kakashi heaved a long-suffering sigh before signing his almost assured death warrant. "He's visiting family."

* * *

"Family" indeed. Sasuke sighed, turning a corner. A two-hour bus ride and a half-hour walk later, he was finally at his destination.

The private cemetery reserved specifically and solely for Uchiha's.

The area was, of course, well kept with no overabundance of weeds or growing grass. _'Only the best for an Uchiha,' _he thought wryly at the manicured lawn. It was a small extension of the town cemetery, and had been for the last hundred years or so.

He visited the joint headstones that marked the resting site of his parents. He may not have known them very well, as their jobs had them travel a lot, but they were still his parents and he loved them. And when they _were_home, they tended to make the point of turning off their pagers and phones, so they could spend uninterrupted time with their sons.

After about thirty minutes of kneeling in front of their gravestone, he got up, stretching the kinks from his back with a wince. He apologized for not having visited in so long, and promised to visit more. They all knew that for the lie it was; he wasn't _really _visiting them, and he'd only ever come once a year. But such things were formalities. Had he not said that, he'd feel like an even worse son, visiting their graves only once a year, not even on their anniversary.

He did, however, visit the grave beside it every year on its anniversary. Today. Itachi Uchiha's grave.

And Sasuke missed his brother fiercely. It wasn't the soul tearing, tear jerking miss, the miss of loosing a best friend, anymore. It used to be, but then Sasuke realized how much he was hurting himself by his inability to let go.

So now, even after eight years, Sasuke was still aching from the loss of his brother. But it was the small, dull ache that no longer affected everyday life drastically. He'd get that small pang of sadness when something happened that reminded him of Itachi. And somedays, he could get through the entire day without thinking of him, or when he would, it wouldn't depress him immensely.

But this place, it brought back that initial pain that he'd felt when he was nine and watching the casket descend into the earth. More than that it helped him _remember._

As corny, childish, and superstitious as it sounds, he feels closer to his brother here. Close enough to ebb the sadness and, not that he'd ever admit it to _anyone_, he feels like Itachi can hear him.

With that thought in mind, Sasuke opens his mouth to speak, just as he has done every other time he's knelt there before. "I'm sorry for not visiting in so long, but I'm sure you understand my reasoning. Not that you'd accept my apology, "wasted effort" and everything," he muttered under his breath, and in return the trees swayed like laughter. Useless apologies were always an annoyance to the older Uchiha.

"As scary as it sounds," he continued after that short pause, "I'm now a college student at Konoha University. I'm taking busy course load, five classes. One of them, Sociology, is taught by Kakashi Hatake. You remember him? He's just as demented as a teacher as he is a person." He laughed.

"I'm still working two jobs, but by the end of the summer, I should have enough saved to quit one of them…" he trailed off uncertainly, the wind blowing around guiltily. Sasuke felt bad; he wasn't blaming Itachi. "You know I don't blame you for that," he scolded. Taking an overused quote from their father, Sasuke smiled. "'Working as many hours as I do builds character. I just don't know what to do with all the extra!"

"Oh, and back to the school topic, I'm skipping class today to visit." The wind gently admonished, but there was an underlying sunshine to it. "I should actually be in Kakashi's class right now. His newest "project" is matching everyone with a partner and having them do community service. I'm sure he picked both my partner and our setting just to spite me…"

Sasuke yawned, cracked his back and continued on. "He partnered me with the most noisy, nosey, idiotic, irritating, _blonde _on the planet, Naruto Uzumaki. Who, by the way, followed me home one day!" he cried, obviously still angry about it.

"Anyway," he continued after he cooled down a bit, "that's not even the kicker. Kakashi assigned us to the hospital with Tsunade." An irritated rustle. "Yeah. He's planning something, but I just don't know what. And it's driving me nuts, not knowing what the pervert's thinking. I would say _if _he's even planning something, but I know him better than that. Sadistic bastard," he muttered under his breath.

He physically shook the violent thoughts from his mind and sighed, enjoying the silence that resonated around him. It wasn't often he could find a genuinely silent area in Konoha, the bustling modern city it was. No cars passing by, no sirens or alarms going off, just peaceful silent nature.

When he spoke again, it was in a quiet tone of voice, almost as if to not disturb the peace. "But, despite all his obvious flaws, Naruto is probably the closest thing to a friend I've had in a long time. And not the familial type of friendship that I had with you, my foster family, or the kids I've gotten to know in the hospital. Ha," he gave a slightly bitter laugh. "He's the first person outside of family that's actually tried to get to know me, past common courtesy acquaintances. Not that I want him to know me, but it's kind of the thought that counts, right?" Murmuring agreement.

"And passing on from _that _depressing statement," he said, trying to lighten the suffocating air that had settled over his shoulders after his previous trail of thought. "I'm still volunteering at the hospital," conveniently not mentioning the _amount _of hours he was putting in there; he was either a terrible liar when it came to Itachi, or the spirit of the man could always tell a lie from truth. Either way, he didn't exactly feel comfortable lying to the headstone, if felt too disrespectful to the man's memory. "When I can make time. I think they were just trying to butter me up, the nurses I mean, when they said that my presence positively affected the kids, in a medical sense anyway."

"I'm not saying that I don't help them, I believe that some of them are genuinely happy when I visit, especially the ones who don't tend to get many visitors. That and I bring books and such to those who ask. But some of the nurses seem to think that, with the thought of me coming to visit, gives a few of these kids a reason to fight, when they didn't have one before. I don't really think that I impact them _that _much…"

The wind held a slightly disbelieving and indignant tone to it as it blew past. Sasuke stubbornly sniffed and shook his head in negligent negative. Changing topics _again, _Sasuke leant back, getting only marginally more comfortable on the wet grass. "I'm enrolled as an Epidemiology major," he said quietly, finally getting around to explaining his life goal to brother. "I am going to be researching factors affecting the health and illness of populations, looking for the cures to the diseases that kill most too early. I don't know about specific diseases yet, just general practice for now. I'm not throwing my life away for something I'm not interested in," he added to the worried wind. "I am, I'll admit, doing this for you. Maybe not _for_ you, but _because _of you. Nobody deserves to be taken away from a family that needs him or her. And _that _is something I am passionate about."

'_Though' _he added silently to himself, _'it's probably not something I'd be interested in, with different circumstances. Like you being alive, for instance.' _ And even though he kept those words to himself, it was glaringly obvious that he'd never have chosen a career in science, had things turned out differently. It was, by far, his worst subject in grade and high schools.

But he never let that thought get to him. It wasn't like he _failed _those classes, quite the contrary. He passed them all with good marks. But it was that grade that often kept him off high honours in grade school, and mere points away in high school.

The –mostly- one-sided conversation hit a lull then, Sasuke not knowing what else to say. He crawled over and pressed a gentle hand on the gravestone. "I miss you, older brother," he whispered, quieter than anything he's said this far. "So much." He pulled away, eyes dry and a morose expression adorning his angled features. "Next year, then? I'm sure I'll have _loads_ to tell you."

And he walked away, without looking back, not knowing how right his mordant declaration would be.

* * *

Two and a half-hours later, thirty dollars for a bus ticket, and the feeling in his left butt cheek later, Sasuke was back in Konoha. Not in the mood to go back home, and it being too early to go to the hospital, Sasuke settled for wandering aimlessly. He'd already missed all his classes for today, so really, he had nothing better to do.

He assumed, since Kakashi had called him earlier that morning, that the man hadn't planned anything for class. As a courtesy, if he had to guess.

Sasuke walked leisurely around the park for the next half-hour or so, until he found the perfect place. The bridge, over the river that ran from the neighboring mountains to the park and ending in the lake, was the place of choice for him this evening. At this bridge, he could watch the red sunset over the trees, reflecting back on the river.

Sasuke was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice the surprised eyes that landed on him as the body had been walking past, as undirected as he was.

After his conversation with Kakashi, Naruto had assumed that Sasuke would be gone longer. But, now that he actually thought back to it, Kakashi had been unnaturally grave and strangely morbid. After he had said that Sasuke was visiting family, Kakashi all but shoved him in his seat and gone to hide in his office for the next twenty minutes. When he had come back out, he had been his usual sarcastically chipper self, insisting everything was normal.

Naruto moved so that he was about a foot behind Sasuke, noting with barely unrestrained glee that he was somehow completely unaware of Naruto's presence. He _should _be feeling slightly worried; normally Sasuke could tell if a person was looking at him from across a room. But just now he was completely unaware of others' presence, which Naruto was about to use to its fullest advantage.

"Hey Sasuke!"

* * *

**A/N: Not that any of you were wondering, I had a really good vacation. Except the day I got back, I caught a bug or something, and have been sick. Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, I really wasn't complaining about the deficit for the chapter before**.

**Ah, don't expect an update much before August 8****th****, because I have various plans and a friend of mine will be staying for a while. But I **_**will **_**get this story done by September 1****st****. It has kinda dragged on…**

**OH, final thing. For those who enjoyed LRC, and like Final Fantasy VII:AC, will enjoy LRC Take Two by Genetic Anomaly. It's amazing. (HINT: IT'S BY ME!) Yeah, I'm advertising my own work, I'm that sad.  
**


	9. VIII

**A/N: … My only defense is that I was lazy… And that I just _could not write it. _I hated it, anywho, even after this third re-write. And terribly out of character... Bah, no fun...  
**

"_Hey Sasuke!"_

To his credit, Sasuke visibly didn't react… much. He did, however, whirl around; a firm glare set on previously serene features and not a trace of its former peace.

The only thing that truly betrayed the innermost thoughts behind those fiery coal eyes was the momentary terrified panic. That and his heart beating wildly out of control, not that anyone cold tell with just a glance.

The glare didn't diminish in the slightest as Naruto gave a sheepish smile, as his glee was still prominent in his eyes. He didn't say anything, just continued glaring, but he was _almost _impressed with the audacity of the blonde. Audacity, he mused, or idiocy.

He stiffly turned around, not saying a word, and looked back out into nature. Naruto seemed to take the obvious dismissal as an invitation, for he sidled up beside Sasuke, their elbows only inches apart.

The tense silence continued until Naruto could bare it no longer and broke it awkwardly. "Sorry for, you know, scaring you like that."

Sasuke stiffened imperceptibly, bristling in the outrageous anger that he felt at the assumption. "You didn't scare me."

Naruto could have sworn he heard indignation in the quiet words, and stifled a smile that wanted to spring forth at the interestingly _normal _reaction. "Of course not," he mocked playfully, and almost laughed when he looked over and noticed that Sasuke seemed torn between repulsion and amusement, barely able to restrain a smile.

Sasuke wanted to cringe in disgust. Here he was having a perfectly pleasant time alone, and this… annoyance… comes up, _not _scaring him, then mocks him! And he wasn't even pissed! He was actually amused by the gall of Naruto, something of which has never happened before.

And if Sasuke didn't know any better, he'd say he was acting nearly _friendly. _"Damn straight," he finally grunted, his tone nearing awkwardness.

"You weren't in class today," Naruto playfully chided, bumping into Sasuke's elbow to further lighten the still slightly depressed air hanging around the Uchiha. "You had said you would be."

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, racking his brain for a feasible excuse. "Something unavoidable came up."

Sasuke, astonishingly, felt the undeniable urge to tell the truth for once in his life about where he really was. Of what really happens when he disappears on this day, consistently, every year. And though he was sure some people already knew, like Kakashi (who seemed to always know everything, anyways) and his foster family, he'd never _told _anyone.

But doing so, fessing up to such a truth would be totally against his nature and personality. So he kept his mouth shut and left it at that.

He honestly didn't know why he felt that way, to _talk _about himself, and couldn't figure any sane reasons. The only thing he could figure was thee basic nature of the person beside him. He gave off such a sunny and trusting aura that Sasuke, who barely trusted himself, felt himself reaching out and willing to _try _such a friendship.

Such unfathomable thoughts like these, however, were tightly locked behind emotionless eyes, with none of his doubts or fears showing through in the slightest. And such looks, he knew from experience, were unnerving, to say the least, to the receiver. But Naruto seemed either impervious to the helpless blankness, or oblivious to the entire situation altogether.

Sasuke was first inclined to choose the latter, but the former was what finally won out, as the quick look he was given betrayed a level of intelligence, or maybe just intuitional wisdom, that left him wondering.

"Oh, okay," Naruto said, only slightly dejectedly. For a brief flash, he thought Sasuke was actually going to tell him what was on his mind. Though it may have just been a self-imposed thought, he frankly thought that Sasuke almost would tell him what was truly on his mind. "You can… trust me, yah know? If you ever want to talk about what's on your mind."

For the bastard he seemed to be, Naruto didn't understand as to why he was trying so hard. True, it wasn't in his genes to just give up when the going got tough, but he was going above and beyond _his _normal effort for gaining a friendship.

Maybe, he thought objectively, it was because at first, it had seemed like friendship was impossible, which was something he strongly didn't believe in. Then there was also this indescribable _pull _towards his friendless peer, a feeling he just couldn't put words to. And finally, there was just something about Sasuke that was particularly alluring, the mysterious air about him he wanted to solve.

He quickly shook such uncharacteristically serious thoughts from his head and offered a simple, unassuming smile, virtually radiating sunshine and happiness.

A smile that seemed to throw Sasuke off balance enough to offer up a half smile in response before he regained his composure and it melted off of his face. But it was caught by Naruto, whose smile, if possible, turned even brighter.

"_Any_way," Naruto said, effectively breaking the heavy silence and serious moment in a flash. "You didn't miss anything fun in class today. We were just given time to work on our papers for a while. Then he gave the same lecture he did last week, but I dunno if he knew that." Naruto gave a laugh and a halfhearted shrug; he didn't know why they had such a smart professor.

Sasuke nodded, not especially impressed with Kakashi for that. He was grateful that he didn't miss anything immensely important, but he'd already doubted that the man would've done anything so underhanded as have an important lecture when he knew Sasuke wouldn't have been there.

It didn't even cross his mind that maybe the man re-taught something when he wasn't there, just for his own benefit.

"Soooo…" Naruto dragged out, after they had lapsed into silence for nearly five minutes. "Why were you just staring out into space earlier? I mean, you were totally out of it."

Sasuke shrugged, unconcerned. It wasn't like one could give reason to a busy mind, could they? Well, they could, but that was an entirely different subject. Almost against his will, his mouth opened, and he spoke in his normal, quiet voice. "I was just thinking. Of nothing with any real significance," he added before Naruto had the chance to voice that dreaded question of why.

"Oh," he breathed disbelief prominent in his thoughts. If it wasn't anything important, than why was it so absorbing? Why was he unable to notice Naruto standing right behind him? What could possibly be able to command all his attention like that? Naruto knew, for sure, that no matter how much he wanted to know what was going on in Sasuke's mind, he'd never find out. Sasuke was just that private of a person.

So instead of insisting that it must have been a pretty significant thought, Naruto just let it go with a sigh, knowing that prying too much would do the opposite of what he wanted. Sasuke would shut off and all the progress he'd made would've been for naught.

Searching for a different topic seemed harder than Naruto would have liked. Since he really didn't know anything personal about Sasuke, he didn't know what kind of topics would gain his interest. He raked his brain for something, anything, that they might be able to have an actual conversation about. And then it hit him – what did Sasuke have a bunch of? Granted, the only reason he knew about it was because of that time he followed Sasuke home, but it was still something!

"Do you like to read?" Naruto, to Sasuke, randomly blurted out. Sasuke looked over confusedly and warily nodded his head. Naruto took the confirmation as a good sign, that this could turn out to be more than a one-sided conversation. "What kind of books do you read?"

Again Sasuke shrugged, but elaborated this time. "Anything that catches my interest, I suppose. Mystery, action/adventure, thriller, historical fiction, just to name a few." Sasuke still wasn't sure where Naruto was going with all this, and it didn't hit him that there _wasn't _a purpose behind it. Other than just friendly chitchat, anyway.

Naruto was borderline ecstatic – he was actually having a conversation with the emotionally depraved Uchiha! And even though he didn't ask, Naruto supplied his type as well. "I like thrillers and adventure mostly," he said, leaving out the "work" Jiraiya makes him read when he's finished writing them. "Read anything good lately?"

As surprising as it was to hear that Naruto actually read, despite the constant clueless expression, Sasuke just couldn't find enough malice in him to make a comment that on any other day would have already been said. Instead, as if being controlled by someone else, he answered seriously, "Not particularly, I've been too busy to lately. But I did get almost halfway through a novel by Christopher Dickey, and it was okay. Probably not one I'd read a second time, but I'd recommend it if they liked that type of book." Sasuke stopped for a moment before continuing, "What about you?"

Naruto could have given a victory whoop; he could have, but didn't. "I finished a Stephen King book a couple of days ago, and it was defiantly one of his better works. Pet Semetary?"

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "I read that a few years ago." He could have laughed from the irony of the situation. Here he was, having a perfectly normal conversation about _books, _with _Naruto._ Really, that blonde was full of surprises.

The conversation picked up from there, with Naruto mostly filling the silence and Sasuke supplying answers with as little talking on his part as possible. He wasn't sure why he was even bothering with it, why he was being so _friendly _when he never acted like this. It was almost like he just couldn't help himself. He decided to blame it on his emotions being out of place due to the day.

Sasuke took the short lull in the conversation that followed as an opportunity to observe his surroundings. He was shocked to find the sun almost completely set; the two of them in the halo of light under one of the only street lamps on the path.

At Sasuke's only slightly furrowed brow, Naruto looked around and was equally amazed at how late it had gotten. He laughed and responded happily, "Time flies when you're having fun!"

Sasuke turned an amused look towards Naruto and raised an eyebrow. "… That was lame…"

Naruto feigned a hurt expression, but finally conceded. "Yeah, it was pretty lame. But you're amused, don't deny it!"

Sasuke's lips twitched before the smallest of genuine smiles shone through. "Yeah, I was amused." His eyes then turned skyward and he sighed, almost wistfully. "I got to go; I have somewhere I need to be…"

"Oh… Okay," Naruto said, slightly put out. "But hey, I'll see you in class, right?" He tried to sound menacing, but it just came out as a tad chiding.

He nodded. "I'll be in class."

"Promise?" was asked hopefully.

A raised eyebrow. "Promise."

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure where the brilliant idea to stalk Sasuke – again – came from, but all he knew was that once the idea came, he just _had _to do it, or he'd never get a moment's peace from the little voice in his head he was denying. A voice that sounded suspiciously akin to Jiraiya's.

Once Sasuke was out of sight and out of hearing range, Naruto had this brainstorm that he smartly decided to follow. So he ran after the other as quietly as he could and, being sure to stay out of the light of the random streetlights, he followed from a distance.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was walking leisurely, hands in his pockets, and at no set pace, surprisingly ignorant about being followed. For the first time in ages, he was able to just _not worry _about all the things piling up. He wasn't worrying over his future, over his money (or lackthereof), or over all the work he needed to do.

The only thing on his mind was this budding… something… between himself and Naruto. It was farther than acquaintances, but this was such unfamiliar territory to him that he honestly didn't know what was going on. And, if he were to be painfully honest, the thought almost scared him. He was such an anti-social and introverted person that the concept of friends was all but lost on him.

What confused him, however, was _why_ the blonde was even bothering trying to get to know him. His standoffish attitude normally kept people at bay, and when that didn't work, his obvious disinterest would chase away the stragglers. So why was Naruto trying so hard?

Sasuke didn't know that that was the same question Naruto had been asking himself earlier, and that he didn't have an answer to that either.

And what neither of them even thought was that maybe there was a "greater force" at work, pushing them together. A "greater force" with gray hair and was working on a bet, that is.

* * *

After following Sasuke for nearly twenty minutes, Naruto was on the verge of giving up and going home, as Sasuke himself didn't seem to know where he was going.

But just as he was about to turn around and go home, he realized where they were, or heading to for that matter. It looked like they were making their way to the hospital. Naruto frowned, thoroughly confused as to why Sasuke was going to the hospital.

He stayed in the shadows, rooted to the spot, as he watched Sasuke ascend the front steps of the hospital. He felt much too rude to actually follow him into the building, so he stayed outside for a few minutes longer, until the shock wore off. He slowly made his way for home in the dark, questions bouncing around inside his head.

* * *

Sasuke cursed his timing – he had meant to come earlier. But, as he looked at his watch, it still wasn't that late, so some kids should still be awake.

It was somewhat of a ritual for him. After he visited Itachi's grave, he'd come to the hospital. He supposed it was a form of survivor's guilt, or something similar, that compelled him to visit, not work, on this day. Guilty that he was alive and his brother was not, guilty that he was healthy and these kids were not, he assumed.

No matter what it was, he still came, and it actually made him happy to see how happy the kids got when he came in.

He made his rounds, saying hi to all the awake kids that he knew, asking them how they were and if they were feeling any better. Some, he could obviously tell, were lying through their teeth about feeling good, but he chose not to comment on it, instead humouring them into thinking that he believed them. And then there were the others that made him truly happy because they _looked _better – colour to their cheeks and energy, to name a few.

Though Sasuke's presence was more overlooked than other visitors were, he still wasn't technically supposed to be there. So a few hours after visiting hours ended, a new nurse came in, freaked, and kicked him out.

He said quick good-byes to those who were still awake and left, only to wander aimlessly around town. He wasn't quite in the mood to sulk home alone, so he just walked around, at one time stopping in to Java Sounds to splurge on a coffee he figured he deserved.

When he dragged his feet into his humble abode around three in the morning, he practically collapsed on his bed, fully clothed, falling asleep before his head even hit the pillow, drained both physically and emotionally.

* * *

**A/N: … No comment. I just couldn't get into the mood to write, just couldn't seem to **_**care. **_**That and I am quite depressed because my sister is leaving soon for college, and it's the first time I'll be so far away from her. But I am really sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long. On the bright side, only two more chapters left, and an epilogue, and I am trying so hard to get this done before I have to go back to school on the second. Which means I probably won't have much sleep between now and then! **

**ANYway, I have a question for anyone who will answer: Do I have an interesting writing style? I mean, is it good, bad, or what, and why do you feel that way? The reason I'm asking is because I've been working on my original story (my third, by the way) and I'm still not sure if I like my style. I wasn't able to finish my last two because I decided I didn't like it…**

**Thanks for those who reviewed the last chapter (so long ago…!), and I hope you don't all totally hate this chapter as much as I do!**


	10. IX

**A/N: : P … Done with this chapter, and just one left!**

Chapter IX

Sasuke's week passed fairly uneventfully and all too soon it was the weekend and time for his and Naruto's final volunteer session at the hospital. The thought alone saddened him more than he would ever have thought it could.

The blonde was less of an annoyance now, if that was even possible.

Maybe annoy wasn't quite the right word, he mused to himself that Saturday late morning while still lying in bed, but much less intense than he was upon their first encounter. Less vocal, maybe.

He thought back on their very first confrontation in high school with a sardonic smile over how things can change so drastically, so quickly.

* * *

Sasuke woke up in a foul mood. He miraculously slept through his first alarm and had no time to prepare for the day, only barely able to rummage through his meager amount of boxes for clean clothes. He was even forced to run the entire way to the school if he was to have time to get his schedule before school actually started.

_As soon as he got situated in his first period class, not even two minutes before class was supposed to start, a group of kids converged around his desk. An icy glare left more than one of them slightly apprehensive, but the ring leader, a blonde boy with way too much energy for so early in the morning, was not to be put down so quickly._

_He shoved his hand into Sasuke's face, obviously wanting him to shake it. "Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, are you new here?"_

_Sasuke had felt his lip unconsciously curl and the glare he held intensified tenfold. The teen, Naruto, faltered slightly, and let his hand drop when it was clear that Sasuke wouldn't be shaking it. "Obviously," Sasuke said in a belittling tone of voice._

_A couple of kids giggled and Naruto's smile dropped quicker than a blink, being replaced by an angry scowl. "Hey! I'm just trying to be nice, since you're new and all!" he cried indignantly, clearly not understanding why someone would be so mean._

_If it was possible, Sasuke's glare darkened, yet still retaining all he emotionlessness as a blank stare. But the message was sent all the same – back off. A pink haired girl, with interest and attraction evident in her gaze, tugged on Naruto's arm, "C'mon, the bell just rang and the teacher is ready to start her lesson. You don't want to get into trouble, do you?"_

_Reason seemed to penetrate the determination to fight, to challenge those who challenged him. "Ba-bastard! I'll-" He was cut off before he could continue with the threat from a voice behind him._

"_You'll what, Mr. Uzumaki?" the teacher asked darkly, the bad relations between the two evident in the momentary flash of terror in Naruto's eyes._

"_Nothing," he said dejectedly and sat sullenly in his seat, casting an irritated glare at Sasuke who responded in kind._

"_Tch… Idiot," Sasuke said, loud enough only for him to hear, the animosity between the two growing, though those would be some of the last words said to Naruto by Sasuke in a few years._

* * *

Sasuke wondered what happened. What did he do wrong to change Naruto's opinion of him so radically? When had his cover slipped so much? Or maybe, just maybe, it was just a twist of fate, a "second chance", that Naruto had decided in lieu or having an unbearably uncomfortable time with their current project.

The thought that he was just toying with him and his feelings didn't last long. Naruto was, in no way, that good of an actor, not when Sasuke was such a master himself. They had apparently called a truce; one that Sasuke was hesitant to break.

This hated hesitancy came from the realization that, despite being intense and annoying, he didn't _hate _Naruto like he thought he did. He actually liked him, against all odds. He never meant for anything like this to happen, to let the defenses he had put up to keep others at bay fall so easily.

His first ever, honest to god, friend. Someone who had no _obligation _to care. Someone _he _had not obligation to care about. Someone-

He abruptly cut off those heavy thoughts and threw the covers off of him, knocking a couple of books over in the process. He looked blankly at them for a minute before saying blandly, "I don't think I could care _less…_"

He ran a hand through messy hair before deciding a shower would be necessary. He meandered to the bathroom, stripped, and sighed when the hot water hit his back. He relaxed for a bit, did the cleaning thing, then turned the water cold to help him wake up better. It worked, if the yelp and quick exit were of any indication, so he shook the droplet of water from his hair, wrapping a towel around his waist and looking in the mirror before him.

His unruly hair, for once, lay flat, though he knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. It was growing out, however, so the spikes were just a little less intense, but at least it wasn't quite as unruly as Naruto's blond mess he called hair.

He brushed his teeth in silence and then got dressed in the same manner. He ate some toast quickly and tied up the laces of his shoes, making a mental note of the state of his sneakers and to think about getting a new pair. Grabbing his keys and wallet, he shut the door firmly behind him and set off for the hospital, unconcerned he was running a little late.

Little did he know that if he'd been early, he would have been able to prevent the happenings that followed.

* * *

"Thank you for finally showing up, Uchiha," Tsunade said, scoldingly sarcastic for it not even being noon.

Sasuke looked momentarily apologetic, and nodded a return greeting to Naruto, who was standing beside the busty woman. "Sorry," he said casually, not sounding particularly sorry, or elaborating.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Fine, be that way. I was just about to tell Naruto what your final duties will be for today. I want you to go over to pediatrics and do whatever they need you to."

Sasuke's eyes widened before he could stop them, nonchalance left far behind. Panic set in but soon turned over to anger he was barely able to contain. Through clenched teeth, he questioned, "Because…?"

"We're short staffed at the moment," she replied, lying through her teeth. The apologetic look she gave him didn't fool him in the slightest – she planned this. While Naruto gazed on nonplussed, Sasuke was unable to show quite how displeased he was. He had never before been so inclined to hit a woman than he felt at this moment of time, but stopped himself at the remembrance of how hard she hits back.

"Fine," he said in a clipped tone, motioning for her to lead the way while shoving his shaking fists into his pockets. Tsunade turned around and walked quickly for their destination, looking back to keep an eye on the Uchiha to make sure he didn't catch her off guard.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, who was silently fuming, and voiced his concern. "Oi! Are you okay? What are you so angry about?" he whispered behind his hand like a kid would when telling a secret.

Sasuke didn't think that he could keep his voice under control so instead of answering, he forced all emotions off his face and shook his head, indicating a negative.

Naruto answered with a dubious look, but let it alone - Sasuke still looked like he really didn't want to talk about it.

All too soon, they stopped at the bright doors leading to the pediatric ward and Tsunade turned around, looking guiltily at Sasuke, wanting to spill the beans. But before she could utter a sound, Sasuke spoke, startling the two blondes. "It was Kakashi, wasn't it?" he spoke coldly, not a trace of the previous good mood represented. His eyes were partially closed and it looked like he was standing with great restraint, like a tiger, agitated in a cage, ready to pounce at the first sign of light.

"Ahh…" she opened her mouth to refute, but changed her mind midway. "For the most part, yeah, the whole thing was his idea. The hospital, your partner, and finally pediatrics today. I dunno why he was so adamant about it, or why he wanted me to do it."

"What was in it for you? You must have gotten _something _out of this deal," he snapped, at his wits end about everything.

"I'll…" she hesitated. "Tell you later, alright?"

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." _'I'm going to kill Kakashi,' _he thought but didn't add. He pushed open the door, grabbed the completely lost blonde by the scruff of his neck and signed his fate.

* * *

At first, when they walked through the doors, Naruto lost the confused look, replacing it with an interested look. But it soon became confused again when everyone, the nurses and other volunteers, seemed to know Sasuke.

And when he asked Sasuke about it, all he received was a short, "Later," and silence would again reign. If it wasn't weird enough having all these people know the emotionless Uchiha, it got even weirder when they entered the chronic illness ward.

All the kids seemed to know him too! Not only that, but the cold and unfeeling teen actually knew them and acted _friendly _and _kind, _unknown emotions to Naruto, coming from Sasuke that it.

He had no idea what was going on, and all that he knew was that he really wanted to. The longer they worked, the more his curiosity grew, until he could barely restrain himself. But he held it in, knowing by how tense Sasuke's shoulders were, this was _not _the time to be asking questions. He may be the definition of a "dumb blonde" but he does have some self-preservation skills, no matter what anyone else says

By the time their last hour was over, Naruto was ready to burst from all the questions he had, while Sasuke looked ready to commit a felony by murder. Tsunade was silent as she lead them to an empty break room, then closed the door behind them.

Sasuke walked around the table, purposely putting some space between himself and both Naruto and Tsunade, for their own safety they knew. "Explain, Tsunade. Now," he said quietly, threat clear in his cold tone.

Said woman, intimidated but unwilling to show it, sat as gracefully as she could. "First thing's first. I didn't _want _to participate in this. At first anyway, but then it got interesting…" she trailed off but the murderous look she received from Sasuke got her talking again, this time on task. "Anyway, it started with my weekly get together with Jiraiya. I had seen Kakashi earlier that day and he said he wanted to talk with me, so I invited him.

"And as it turns out, he is obnoxiously good at poker, and I quickly lost all the money I had, and then some. But instead of insisting for it, he said that I could just do a favour for him. I was just a bit tipsy and so I foolishly agreed to it. It was to let some of his students volunteer here, when I normally don't let kids to.

"Then he told me the kid was going to be you and someone else. I was intrigued, I'll admit to it. I wanted to know your purpose, I guess, like why you spend so much time here," she finished, curiosity almost burning in her eyes. Beside her sat Naruto who was looking almost as curious as she did, nodding his head vigorously in agreement to her statement.

Sasuke sat in silence for so long, they were sure that he wouldn't answer. But when he began, it was in a much quieter voice than his normal quiet. "I'm enrolled as an Epidemiology major. My focus will be chronic diseases. I have been volunteering in local hospitals since I was eleven, in their pediatric chronic disease ward."

He fell silent and the two blondes wondered where he was going with all of this. Naruto closely observed Sasuke, seeing if he could figure anything out by looks. With both hands resting on the table, slight tremors running through them and hair obscuring his face, that was looking at his hands, the standing teen was impossible to read.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, with hands stilled, Sasuke spoke in a hollowed, empty tone. "When I was younger, my parents were heavy smokers. A pack a day habit, starting long before I was born. My lungs were weakened because of that, my older brother's even more so." Naruto's eyes shot open even wider. Older brother?!

"They died not long after my eighth birthday – car crash by a drunk driver, instant death." At the incredulous looks because of the blankness of his tone from the two sitting occupants of the room, that he could just feel, Sasuke shrugged, continuing to look down at his hands, hiding his face away from the prying eyes. "I've made my peace with it. But the damage to our lungs had been done. And since my brother was born with weaker lungs, he was susceptible to disease. He was diagnosed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease, which left him suffering. He'd get better, worse, then better again. Then, a little over a year later, he caught pneumonia."

Tsunade gasped, understanding the implications of a lung infection to a sufferer of COPD. Sasuke nodded dully. "Which was, figuratively and literally, the kiss of death for him. I watched as he slowly suffocated to death with no family or friends, besides myself. Which is why I do what I do now."

The silence that followed that depressing confession was absolute, that a pin drop would sound like a lion's roar. Tsunade was stunned with this revelation, but his dedication to his work and visiting the kids even when he didn't have the time, sort of spoke for him. It made her understand the amounts he was working, and though she didn't quite condone it, she understood.

Naruto, on the other hand, was completely flabbergasted. There was no way he could've guessed _that _was why Sasuke was the way he was. No way he could have imagined such a tragic past. And after everything was done, he was amazed at how strong Sasuke really was. And caring. Naruto thought it was an endearing quality, one he never would have thought of.

"Why," Sasuke said, angry tone back, startling both Naruto and Tsunade out of their internal musings. "Kakashi would dredge all this up… is beyond me. Do you know _why_ he could be so heartless? Did he give you a reason, especially for getting _him_ involved?" he pointed a finger before finally falling exhaustedly into the chair.

"He's not heartless," Tsunade protested. "He cares deeply about you, and he was worried." At Sasuke's unasked question, she explained further. "He said you're so reclusive that you have no friends, nor any interest in anything but school, work, and this hospital. Which was the main purpose of this assignment, I think."

Sasuke was quiet for a moment before replying elaborately. "I see." He lifted his head a little and set a hard stare upon Tsunade through the fringe of his bangs. "I still don't know what you would get out of this? Wait, just let me guess. You bet I'd make a fool of myself and spill the beans? Or that I'd make a friend?" He mocked the last question but almost saw red at the flash of guilt that touched her face for an instant. He spaced his next words and spoke carefully. "You bet on my social status?"

Sasuke sat eerily calm, but Naruto could tell that looks, especially for Sasuke, could be deceiving. He, however, felt no indignation over being an obvious puppet in their elders' play theater. Because if it hadn't been for them, he'd never have met, really met, Sasuke, something for which he was eternally grateful for.

Sasuke held his breath and counted to ten, then twenty when he realized ten wasn't nearly enough to calm him. "Whatever," he said as he stood up to look out the window, face a mask of indifference. But just beneath that surface, he was more humiliated than he had ever been. People he trusted _betted _on him. If he were in any less control of his emotions, his face would be burning with red embarrassment. He looked stonily out the window for a few minutes before he made his decision.

With the pink of a sunset behind him, he faced Tsunade and Naruto, head raised and eyes forward. He took a deep breath and was about to start into a rant until he realized that that sort of behavior really wasn't him, and let the breath out in a whoosh of air. So he just shrugged on his jacket and walked towards the door, with a final, "I'm done. Later."

Naruto wasn't sure who the "later" was directed towards, but barely five minutes after Sasuke had disappeared into the hall, he scrambled out after him, somehow knowing the other was heading for their home.

* * *

**A/N: … Sorry if I make this short. I'm still depressed about my sister, who left yesterday. So thanks to the reviews for the last chapter, and thanks for the helpful input about my writing.**

**Oh, and turns out I don't start until Wednesday. So I have some serious writing to do if I want to finish this by then. Which, honestly, I doubt I'll be able to do. But it'll definitely be done by the end of the week. 'Cause I still have my entire Honours Chemistry assignment to do… That I haven't even started…**


	11. X

**A/N: ……… Uh, I was making a dramatic pause? And now, the final chapter of ****A Helping Hand!**

Chapter X

Sasuke walked quickly, angrily, but not noticing where his feet were taking him. Not _caring _where they were taking him, as long as it was away. Away from his humiliation, his anger, his care.

When he was barely ten paces from his front door, he finally took note of his surroundings. Why had he headed home, of all places, was beyond him, as he had wanted to get away. He continued his glare for another minute or two, but finally realized that doing that was getting him absolutely nowhere.

So he turned haughtily on his heel and spun right into the body of the person he had no idea was behind him. Only pure reflex kept him from breaking his nose on the chin of the teen in front of him.

At least Sasuke wasn't the only one who was caught completely off guard; Naruto almost had a heart attack when Sasuke had turned around so abruptly and ran right into him. Some indescribable pull had brought him here, he could barely understand why, but he knew that he'd have regretted it his entire life if he didn't try and follow.

Sasuke jerked backward, away from the warm body with a strict glare, just daring the other to say something about the lapse in awareness. And if he hadn't currently been completely maxed out in the embarrassment department, he may have flushed.

As it was, he took another step back, regaining his personal space bubble all for himself once more, and hardened his gaze when he recognized just who had scared the living bejesus out of him.

"What?" he spat out, really not wanting company at that precise moment.

He could've been silent, for all Naruto cared, because no amount of venom or anger in Sasuke's tone would change his mind of staying. All Naruto cared about was if Sasuke was okay or if he wasn't doing well at all – which he obviously wasn't. " I just wanted to know if you were okay? You kind of stormed out back there, and I guess I was worried…"

Sasuke froze momentarily. The honest and steadfast emotion in the blonde's voice was all but impossible to miss and it seemed to strike something from deep within the depths of his heart. Unbeknownst to him, Sasuke's glare dulled slightly, much to Naruto's delight. In no control over his mouth, Sasuke answered, "I'm fine," he said, more than just a little bitterly. Not that anyone could truly blame him for it, however.

In an attempt to diffuse the still tense air, through it was less angry then before, Naruto joked, "Yes, you do seem 'fine.'"

Instead of alighting his anger once more, like he'd hoped, Sasuke found himself actually amused. He felt like a stranger in his own skin – this just wasn't him! He did not joke, didn't make friends, didn't do _anything! _ He suddenly felt awkward, out of place, in uncharted territory. He shoved that away, though, boxed these insecurities up tight and erased all evidence. In a similarly but faux-venomous voice as before, he replied, "Whatever. Did you need something or were you just coming to make fun of me?"

Sasuke didn't honestly think that, it was only a sad attempt to save face. Naruto could also clearly see that, as Sasuke was not aware of how much his thoughts were seen through his eyes. It was either that or Naruto has just gotten better at reading Sasuke, which is a normally unachievable feat for those that even know him.

To Sasuke's horror, Naruto obviously didn't take to toxicity of his tone seriously. "I would never make fun of you," Naruto said emphatically serious. In a sudden moment of clarity, Naruto paused at his revelation. Sasuke was self-conscious and unsure of himself. He would've _never _expected that. Then again, everything else that had happened today was unexpected, so he really shouldn't be all that surprised.

Sasuke's eyes widened minutely at the emotion in the blonde's voice. He wanted to, for the first time, let someone who was reaching out to him in. But only because the someone was _this _someone. The thought almost scared him on levels he didn't even know existed; that he was getting so attached to someone who probably wouldn't stick around with him for long. That maybe he was actually developing feelings for the annoying blonde he enjoyed the company of.

"Tch," he sounded, looking away and crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest loosely.

Naruto wasn't sure what it was about that move had amused him so much, but it did. If he didn't know better, he'd say Sasuke looked like a stubbornly embarrassed child pouting. He paused, ever so slightly, when the term "cute" passed across the forefront of his mind. He refrained from chuckling, however, because he'd either look like a loon for laughing out loud, or he'd get his ass kicked if he, god forbid, _told _the now moody Uchiha.

Sasuke let the silence between the two lengthen until Naruto was almost squirming. He didn't know what was going on behind the blonde's open blue eyes, which made him more than just a little disturbed.

What he didn't know, the reason behind his inability to calculate the various emotions in Naruto's eyes was because of his own clouded vision. He couldn't read the emotions because he wasn't as emotionally devoid as he normally was, and it was beginning to cloud his judgement and ability to read people.

"Plus," Naruto began, needing to break the silence. "I guess I just wanted to see you." Faintly embarrassed about his direct declaration, but not about to take it back, Naruto settled for the next best thing – preparing for Sasuke's reaction. He expected it to be explosive and offensive, or maybe indignant and disturbed, but what he definitely didn't expect what he got.

Sasuke gained a marginally dejected look with just an undercurrent of curiosity. "Why? I mean, why bother?" he said in a tone devoid of all previous venom and anger. What was left was the voice of a lost boy, unsure of himself and the motives of others.

Which left Naruto just a bit stunned. Not just how he'd said it, but _what _he'd actually said. Did Sasuke really think that poorly of him? He really hoped not because it was sort of a depressing thought. "Because you're my friend, and I like you. And like I said, I was worried." Naruto felt fairly vulnerable at this moment in time; Sasuke could easily reject him and it would probably be the "kiss of death" for their friendship.

And Sasuke picked up on the vulnerability, knowing full well he could easily push aside the blonde and go on about his life, woefully alone. And for the first time, he didn't want that. He'd always been alone, yes, but he'd never really felt _lonely. _Not really anyways. But if he were to force the blonde away now, after coming to care for him as well, he'd be lonely. And he _really _didn't want that.

After a pause long enough to cause Naruto to start to sweat, Sasuke spoke. "Tch, I guess we are friends," he said, a small smile playing at the very corners of his mouth.

Naruto, on the other hand, had much less restraint in place on his face. A brilliantly relieved smile broke through and lit up his whole face, ecstatic to have finally broken down the barriers of the icy Uchiha's wall around his heart.

Sasuke took that moment, however, to have another internal revelation. He realized that he was no longer as blindly in a rage as he had been when he'd stumbled into Naruto. He was, of course, still furious with Kakashi and the others, but at this particular moment, he could let it got just a little. He was even less embarrassed about it, for which he was grateful – red really wasn't his colour.

He felt compelled to laugh as his dry joke, but thankfully repressed it quick enough; he had been embarrassed enough for this lifetime. He sighed, an empty night in front of him, as he thought it best to bail out from the dinner Kakashi had told him to come to. He figured it was best for both their safety; he just _might _fly of the handle just a little and pound his fists into Kakashi's face instead of "using his words" like Kakashi was constantly telling him to do when he made Sasuke angry.

Suddenly bored within the confines of his own mind, he moved towards the front door, pulling out his keys simultaneously. After unlocking the door, he looked back uncertainly at Naruto, who was looking at him fairly expectantly. He sighed soundlessly and closed his eyes momentarily. "Do you want to come in? We could order some take-out or something?"

Naruto nodded, content with the situation. That and his stomach took the opportunity to make its presence known with a roar. He laughed sheepishly and replied, "Sounds great."

* * *

'_Make yourself at home,' _Sasuke had said. So Naruto, being Naruto, stuck his nose in everything, looking over all his worldly possessions as fascinated as a paleontologist would be upon discovering a new species of dinosaurs. He interestedly looked over every spine, or every book, and had asked about the various pictures on the shelf. To which Sasuke answered, amusedly, that the first were his parents, next was him and his brother, then finally him and his foster family.

The last Naruto was most interested in, but Sasuke kept stubbornly tight-lipped about. But he just shrugged it off and continued with hid exploration with renewed fervor.

Sasuke was once again reminded of how small the apartment was with another body in it. Thank goodness he wasn't claustrophobic or he'd already be having a panic attack at the very least. When Naruto had finally run out of things to look at, Sasuke chucked various take-out menus at him from his seat at the table, his feet languidly propped on the table.

It took less than ten minutes for them to agree on pizza, call it in, and Sasuke give permission for Naruto to move his books so he could sit at the table with Sasuke.

They talked of mainly inconsequential and light subjects, nothing nearly as heavy as before, until Naruto began asking about books. Sasuke got marginally more interested, and just a little more proactive in the conversation. Naruto was picking up books and asking if they were any good, and why or why not.

Naruto had just picked up a heavy, seven hundred plus page book, when the bell rang, signaling the arrival of food. Their book discussion was put on hold as they scarfed down a quarter each. Sasuke continuously refused Naruto's offer to pay half, and as he quickly realized, it was a matter of pride for the Uchiha. So he meekly said his thanks and they ate in relative silence.

A silence that, surprisingly, didn't last very long, if Naruto had anything to say about that. Sasuke mostly listened, added input only when the situation called for it. Naruto's topic of conversation was of himself, since he felt almost guilty about knowing about Sasuke without him knowing of his.

All too soon, the conversation hit a lull, comfortably. "There is something that I've been dying to know. How is it that you know Kakashi? 'Cause the two of you are obviously close, right?"

Sasuke took a moment to ponder that. He hadn't really thought about it for such a long time that he had to really think to come up with the answer. "He was best friends with my uncle and godfather. And even after he died, Kakashi still came around for dinner a few times a week. He is, for all intents and purposes, my godfather now. And I think we'd both appreciate it if you didn't mention it to anyone," Sasuke finished with a look directed towards Naruto.

Said teen leaned back in his chair, squawked indignantly and a fake-hurt crossed his face. "Such little faith!" he said and was pleased to see a smile flit across Sasuke's face. Those smiles seemed to be coming at increasing intervals, but each were received and memorized all the same.

Switching topics once again, Naruto asked slyly, "Have you planned your revenge against Kakashi and them?"

Sasuke, instead of being thoroughly freaked that maybe the blonde can read minds, smirked rather evilly. "I'm still working on it. The punishment should fit the crime, no?"

Naruto laughed. "Definitely. Should you need any help, I'm more than willing. In fact, I insist on being able to help in any way possible."

* * *

Halfway across town, with a cold dinner set for two in front of him, Kakashi felt a shiver run down his spine. He looked around frantically before locking all the windows and doors, shutting all the lights off, and taking his dinner up to his room, locking his bedroom door behind him. Sasuke wasn't going to be coming for dinner after all…

* * *

Sasuke refrained from laughing and settles for a chuckle or two. "Be careful what you wish for, I may take you up on that."

Naruto laughed again. His eyes slid over to the alarm clock on Sasuke's end table by his bed. He sighed, it was getting late, and he should get home before Jiraiya started to worry about him. So he consolidated the thought and said, "I should probably get home – it's getting late."

Sasuke made a noncommittal noise and made to go and open the door. He was stopped, however, when Naruto stepped in front of him, door open an inch, sincere smile ever present. "I had fun," he said.

Sasuke, stunned by the sincerity, wasn't able to stop the words tumbling from his lips, the surprised smile on his face he was unaware of. "I did too."

"Good," Naruto said, relieved he wasn't the only one. "'Cause I'm thinking we ought to do this again, soon."

"Sure," Sasuke answered, for an unknown happy reason. Until realization dawned on him, giving reason to the butterflies in his stomach he'd been adamant in ignoring. The feelings of friendship had, in the course of one evening, evolved into something more. More intense, more frightening, and much more embarrassing. But if he had to be totally true with himself, he would have to recognize the possibility of them always being there, from day one, starting with the bud.

What Sasuke didn't know was that Naruto's emotions were mirroring his own, only Naruto's were much more torn. It was against his nature to not be forthcoming with his feelings, but he was afraid he'd scare Sasuke off if he said anything.

While both were battling inwardly, trying to quickly figure out their feelings, Fate decided to intervene. Sasuke had long since let go of the door knob, so when a strong gust of wind decided it needed to enter the room ad exit as a cross breeze through the opposite window, it slammed into Naruto's back. Caught completely unaware, Naruto was pitched forward – right into Sasuke. More specifically, lip-to-lip with Sasuke.

Cursing his previous weakness, at being too thoughtful in regard to his feelings, Naruto took full advantage of the situation, cautiously adding a bit of pressure behind his lips.

Sasuke, once again stunned "speechless" the moment their lips made contact, was even more shocked when Naruto, instead of immediately pulling away like Sasuke thought he would, added pressure. But he was almost too stunned to respond, until Naruto had a bad feeling and begun to pull away. That was when his body started to move on its own accord.

Hands snaked around to grab the retracting head, Sasuke took a step closer and locked lips once again, surprising the both of them with his uncharacteristic boldness. Naruto, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, took advantage of Sasuke's agreeance and deepened the kiss.

After a fight for dominance with no apparent victor, they broke apart, the need for air becoming top priority. A trail of saliva strung out between their mouths, ragged breathing all to clear in the otherwise silent room. Sasuke looked at Naruto with heavy lidded eyes, Naruto doing the same.

The serious atmosphere between the two continued, seemingly communicating solely with their eyes. Sasuke's thought were much more raced and frantic, not his own. Analyzing everything that's happened since this point and not seeing any signs that Naruto could have felt _this _way about him.

Naruto's thoughts were much the same, only more paced and calmer. He wrote it off as spur of the moment, and that it should happen again.

With a blinding smile, Naruto leaned in and whispered in Sasuke's ear, "We should _definitely _do this again soon."

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**A/N: And it is done! Just the epilogue left, and I have no idea when I'll get that done. It'll be done by October 1****st****, I'm hoping for. Thanks for those who reviewed the last chapter, I appreciated it!**

**Anyway, I've been busy as all get out lately, and having a… not easy time with the amount of schoolwork I've had in the past week and a half. Totally fried, and my sleeping problems are back… I'm lucky if I get six hours. And they are not even consecutive…**


	12. Epilogue

**A/N: I fail at life… Anyway, hope you enjoy, I know I sure didn't…**

Epilogue

_One Year Later_

A pleasant breeze, still ripe from summer, wafted the hair of passerby, claiming loose hats and scarves. The sun, hiding shyly behind billowous clouds, would occasionally grace the city with its beauty, slowly gaining confidence and not hiding quite as often.

A young adult, eyes wiser than the few years actually spent on Earth, walked with purpose towards a specific place. Hand deep in his pocket, He gave no sign of the nervousness his heart truly held. One year older, wiser, and happier than he'd ever been, but the twangs of guilt had constantly riddled him, though not enough to truly dampen his spirits.

Sasuke, bypassing his parents grave for the time being, continued to walk until he stopped abruptly and stared down at the gravestone in front of him. He was quiet for so long, unsure of how to start, until he uncharacteristically blurted out the first thing he thought of. "I have a boyfriend."

Sasuke refrained, just barely, from slapping his forehead at his skillful tact, but that would be just proving how much of an influence said boyfriend had had concerning his restraint. Over the course of the past year, Sasuke had changed dramatically, and it was all thanks to that blonde "annoyance".

While he was still quiet, anti-social, and had quite a temper, he was just a smidge more mellow. Being around Naruto as much as he was left him with a slightly more positive outlook on life, and gave him something genuine to look forward to.

"I mentioned him last time, remember? Naruto," he said, effortlessly gliding over the lapse in control. And if Sasuke didn't know any better, he'd say that somehow, Itachi was condescendingly saying "duh," as if he knew it was bound to happen. Sasuke shouldn't have been surprised – he had never mentioned people by name to the tombstone before Naruto.

He dropped the flower clung loosely in his left hand, watching it land gracefully on the base of the stone. "An offering from Naruto, since I'm not ready for him to join me yet…"

And Sasuke felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders, realizing belatedly that what he'd been feeling since the previous year wasn't guilt, it was anxiousness. The approval carried by the wind washed it away as easy as if it were nothing important instead of everything in the world. He was afraid Itachi wouldn't approve, or something of a similar ilk, and didn't know if he could take that.

In the giddiness of such a weight gone, Sasuke felt a small smile curl his lips as he sat down. "Thanks." He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the sun wash over his pale features. "He works with me at the hospital now." He laughed. "The nurses treat us like a godsend, with how quickly and efficiently we can get the work done. And he respects my wish to not tell any of his friends about it."

Sasuke fell silent for a moment, thinking. His eyes brightened slightly. "Oh! A few months ago, I got a raise at Java Sounds. Surprising, I know. So I quit my other job and now have too much free time to know how to deal with it. But I have found a few ways to entertain myself with the free time," he said with a smirk.

He didn't elaborate, was sure Itachi didn't need to know about his younger brother's hormone surges. "I won't bore you with the story of how we got together, but I feel the need to mention that it's all because of a bet Kakashi had…" his fists clenched before he relaxed the muscles. "But I'm over it now. I got my revenge on it months ago. Again, no details other than it had much to do with honey, feathers, and a youthful "beast." It was fun."

Sasuke thought of all the other, less important details of his life, and only relayed the interesting/semi-important information.

All too soon he ran out of topics and lapsed again into silence. He stood, feeling lighter than he had in a long time, and said his good-byes, promising to visit again in a year. His parents got a much more condensed and censored version, and he stared up at the sky.

Life wasn't fair, he knew that, but sometimes something happened that would make up for all the shit that you have been struggling against to live. So life was much more bearable with someone else with you to shoulder some of the burden, he reasoned.

A few feet away from the gate to the cemetery, and Sasuke looked up, and a smile managed to make it past his restraint. There was Naruto, leaning causally against the metal, looking up at a hawk flying overhead. When he noticed he was no longer alone, Naruto looked down, back to earth, and smiled brightly. "How'd it go?" he asked, making Sasuke roll his eyes at the suggestion it _could _go badly.

"Good," he replied, savoring the sense of wellbeing and comfortableness with closed eyes.

Their hands intertwined easily, loosely, naturally, as they walked away from the gate. A reassuring squeeze and Naruto pulled Sasuke, walking faster down the road to find themselves something to eat.

Sasuke sighed, finally at peace. Despite his calmer facial expression, a sense of happiness washed daintily over him. Yeah, this was what life was meant to be like.

A few stolen kisses and they disappeared across the horizon, finally able to get on with the rest of their lives.

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**A/N: And there is the end of "A Helping Hand"! It'll take too long to personally thank everyone, so a general thank you will have to suffice. So THANKS! To everyone who reviewed, favourited, and alerted! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect for this story to be so popular, it was just supposed to be a stress relief… So thanks!  
**

**But with this out of the way, I can work on "With Torn Up Pages" now!! Woo! And for those who care, MY BIRTHDAY IS LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY, OCT. 3!! As you may be able to tell, I'm excited…**


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